All posts by steve@kerrzone.com

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Sleeping on it

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I am never really sure what happens when I sleeping .  Afterall it is a state of unconciousness.  Of course we dream and our brains have periods of activity during sleep.

This has been proven over the years through numerous studies about sleeping.  Most people know,  a lack sleep can lead to ill effects like bad temper , hallucinations and so on.

What exactly are dreams and why do we sleep is not yet solved.

Sleep is critical, but what is it?  Todays post is triggered by the fact I woke up this morning with a “to do” list in mind.  This is not unique and does occur from time to time.

I Wonder

Why did my particular events or stored memories, feelings or ideas at this point in time trigger analysis, decisions and determination of actions  which I ultimately woke up with top of mind.

On any particular evening I go to sleep with things on my mind.  Only occassional do I wake up with them thought through ( unconciously) with the solutions present at the forefront of  my thoughts.

Sleeping on it

In essence some things benefit from “sleeping on it” and some do not.  The frustrating part is I seem unable to select those challenges, problems and issues that would benefit from silent unconcious analysis and those that remain unsolved.

Somehow my unconcious brain is making these selections.  It really is nice to wake with the problem gone and the solution at hand.  Unfortunately though, as I noted, it’s not always the most troubling problem that gets solved in this way

Too Bad!

Oh to be able to choose which things to magically solve while blissfully unconcious and those which unfortunately keep you awake.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

The spirit is in you

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This time of year is often called the holiday season because of the nunmber of religious and social holidays that occur in November , December and January.

The christian celebration of Christmas is widely participated in but in general whatever your religious or cultural background this is considered a time of peace and joy.

Feeling the spirit

A collegue commented today how this year he was not feeling the spirit.  It was not something he could put an exact explanation to, it just felt like a busy time at work and in his personal life.

My snap comment, albeit a bit tongue and cheek, was “the spirit is in you, what you feel and how you manage the spirit within is truly a personal choice.”

Your surroundings or You

The weather (burr) the length of the day, our experiences and memories, the people around us, all influence how we choose to feel (and of course much more).

Regardless of the impact of the environmental inflences,  or lack thereof, a warm and happy holiday spirit is yours to choose.  So choose wisely.

Why now?

The holiday spirit is driven by some annual events, gathering with family, eating sumptuous food and exchanging gifts.  These are part of the standard experience this time of year.

Doing these things more frequently can lessen the impact. Anticipation  of them happening is  one of the keys to the happiness and pleasure we feel about them.

So take advantage of the environmental influences and let your holiday spirit bloom.

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

A fine line

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Most people would agree that communicating with each other is a cornerstone of human existance.  That is, a critical behaviour that is one of the keys to a happy life.

Balancing your personal needs with those of others, while communicating with others,  often requires you to tread a fine line between getting the message across and not offending.

What are you trying to do

Communications  are either an information exchange (typically two way) or providing information or direction (typically one way).  These are not exclusive practices and a single communication event can include both types.

Information exchanges work best as conversations or discussions whether in group meetings , one on one verbal exchanges or even online conferences.

One way information or providing directions can occur in all the above ways but also be used effectivelyin email exchanges.  Email exchanges usually fall apart when one or the other party attempts to make the interchange two way.  Email is not a good vehicle for that.

Treading the Fine Line

If your intent is to provide a clear message or direction, often some finese is required to ensure receptivity.  The key is early recognition of low acceptance or receptivity to your information.

When you identify this the best approach is to shift gears and enter an “info exchange” mode.

Exchanging information, by it’s very definition, is two way and when done effectively, adversarial and attack type communications can be avoided.

The goal is to achieve consensus around the information/message you are conveying.  Even though you might have begun the discussion with a singular, one way perspective, shifting to a more collaberative method (while not compromising your intent) is the fine line that more often then not leads to good results.

As noted, it is almost impossible to have an effective information exchange when the communication vehicle is email and in these cases I would exit that method as quickly as possible and move to dialogue.

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

A touch of Philosophy

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Reality is of our own making.  Facts are real based on our perception of them.  You might argue human society is an integrated whole, for me, ultimately it’s all about me.

Only you can control your thoughts and behaviours. External influences, albeit real, do not make changes in and of themselves. Only you can act.

Everything can come to pass in the fullness of time .  With a little patience and some saliva  ants can devour an elephant.

Sound like nonsense?

Given the nature of thought,  there are truly no absolutes.  If I think it,  then it is real.  Probably not, surely some balances exists between facts commonly accepted as “true” and our own perspectives, perceptions and interpretations of these facts.

The cynical me argues a rational argument exists for any reality.  For example I could state the sky is orange , not blue.  Since I believe it, is it true?

By common agreement the sky is blue, therefore I am at fault with the facts.  How so, just because the there is a plurality of belief of among other humans as to the color label am I  wrong?

This of course is where standards and agreements come into play.  Total anarchy around facts would lead to disintegration of culture.  Without some common acknowledgements inter-operation of individuals becomes virtually impossible.

A common Reality must Exist and be recognized as such

” I think, therefore I am” is a broad and universal statement of existence.  If it is false, I do not exist.  If I do not exist, then you do not exist as your existence ( at least validation of it) depends on my existence.

Ah, the joy of the circular argument.

Today’s post while largely a bit of whimsy and a bit of fun does stem from real conversations I have had with my colleagues and some others over the last week.  An interesting week to say the least.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Guiding your effort

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Management information is used by organizational leaders to help them gauge the efficiency and effectiveness  of the  things being managed, that is the resources within their purview (e.g., people, product, physical assets,etc.)

Ultimately this information is used to inform decision making.  In today’s environment the information is largely in digital form and the tools managers use are called management information systems (MIS)

Technology is an Enabler

This categorization (MIS) puts a technology spin on the information gathering, storage, sorting and retrieval. (often referred to as Extract, transform, load – ETL)

However, management information is not about or even truly bound to the technology.  Technology is just a tool, and that is an important distinction . Some often have difficulty with this separation.

When I first started in business, (in the dark ages) the tools used in the gathering and recording were pen and ink, the sorting was pure brain power.

Interpretation of the information was largely manual, as it continues to be today although automation, i.e., artificial intelligence, is beccoming more and more prevalent.

An Example

There are of course a myriad of information types, interpretations and uses.  The following example is intended to be illustrative of data you might collect, transform and analyze, for management purposes,  highlighting the benefits of doing this.

Whether this is an automated process, fully manual or a combination is not the point, rather just why you would collect management data and how you can use it to, well, manage.

Time Reporting

How do the human resources in your organization spend their time? First you could ask each person record their time by category (e.g. customer support, project work ,operations, administration) over a defined defined period.

By amalgamating the teams results you can get an idea on what type of work your group is focusing on.  This does not account for individual variations ( it is a group measure) but on the whole you can determine if the groups efforts are directed according to your strategic expectations.

If not, you can investigate, determine the cause and make course directions.  Without this type of data you are just guessing, so it really is invaluable.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Jumping to Solutions

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You have probably heard the tired old phrase “jumping to conclusions”.  An interesting variation involves figuring out the answer before understanding what the problem or issue is.

I call this “jumping to solutions”.  Point of fact, this is built into the human psyche.  Many psychology experiments have been conducted to prove this behaviour is part of humans thinking process.

Of course these experiments were often structured to prove this was the right answer to the question.  Never the less,  my personal observations over time do validate this to be an accurate depiction of most peoples natural tendency.

Building Solutions

Often when we collaborate on defining what we need (i.e., the requirements) our intuitive understanding of the solution comes into play.  This is true in both work and personal context.

This can and often does result in the solution not being what we need and maybe not even addressing/resolving the problem.  Consider the following hypothetical exaggeration (for illustrative purposes).

You have been searching for transportation.  Meeting the needs of your wife and two small children form part of the requirements.  In your mind though the solution needs to be a luxury vehicle.

There probably are some good non-luxury vehicle solutions (and a luxury vehicle is probably not actually a requirement) yet when gathering the requirements somehow they indicate the solution should be a luxury sedan. You force it to be so because you have already decided the solution.

A key driver of arriving at this solution was the fact it was the answer you envisioned even before figuring out what you really needed.

Determining the solution before you know what you really need and want; be careful,  it can be costly and ultimately not meet the real requirements.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Location, Location, Location

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The criticality of a meeting environment and meeting tone, as supporting factors toward the sucessful achievement of the sessions goals, really came home to roost for me today.

I have been facilitating a series of working sessions with a team of six over the last three months.  The goal is process development / improvement.

Everyone is Important

When working with a group of subject matter experts of diverse background, it has been my experience best results are derived when everyone actively participates.

Not to put too large a point on it, but for me actively equates to passionately, avidly being in the moment from the sessions beginning to it’s end.

Atmosphere

Today’s session was in a different location.  The normal meeting room was not available.   The smaller more intimate room changed the entire meeting.

The sessions to date while effective and definitely resulting in good progress were quite different.  The mood at today’s session was lighter and full participation by everyone occured throughout.

It was such a noticeable difference I have changed the location for future meetings.  I am aware of the importance of a meetings set-up and location but today’s session really opened my eyes as to how powerfull the proper circumstances can impact  results.

In today’s case it was clearly a positive impact, I am sure though it could just as easily had negative effects.  In fact this probably was true of the previous location we used.

I guess, just like they say when you are buying a new home, location is everything.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Your parcel has been redirected to the recipients new address

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On Friday I was waiting for delivery of an expensive item shipped via Canada Post Express.  The shipper promised expediated delivery in two days.

The order was placed and accepted on-line.  Order confirmation  was received Nov 27th.  Two days later (not) on Dec 9th we were actively monitoring the Canada Post tracking number for the long awaited but finally expected delivery.

And Surprise

The tracking updates showed the package landed in Edmonton at around 2:00 and the local sorting facility at approximately 6:30 am.  Out for delivery at 11:00 am.  All is looking good.

Alas, by 5:00 pm the package has still not arrived and then, the big surprise.  Checking the tracking number at 5:30 we notice the status has changed to “Your parcel has been redirected to the recipients new address.”

And Panic

Was the item in the process of going missing.  Afterall, we had been home waiting for the delivery since 11 a.m. and certainly we lived in the same place since at least then.  I am thinking it takes more than 4 hours to relocate your home.

So I called Canada Post.  Getting a live person on the line is a test, like a real I.Q. test requiring probably an I.Q. of more than 160 – but I figured it out.

A complete waste of time of course, the only advice being I needed to contact the shipper, Canada Post would do nothing and even if the shipper followed up immediately, it would take a week or more to investigate anyway.

So much for promised 2 day delivery, that had already taken 2 weeks.

Long story short, the shipper was little help but magically the parcel showed up Saturday morning at around 10.

Shopping Online

Interesting summary to this story is the fact my wife and I are avid and high volume on-line shoppers, for years. To date though very few, almost none of the items have been delivered by Canada Post and delivery is always as expected.

My advise to on-line retailers out there, give Canada Post a pass, there are lots of other cost effective options and Canada Post is just giving you a bad name.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Lets Figure it Out

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Organizational and group cultures are dependent on many factors.  Things like what is the organization trying to achieve , what things are most important – i.e., clients, profit, team members satisfaction and so on.

Typically the organizations leadership set the direction, influence and impact how the group works together.  Basically this lays the foundation for how the culture develops over time.

Meeting the Organizational Goals

When managing by objectives, the intent is to achieve defined and measurable goals.  In that case, the key method of determining if the culture is effective lies in monitoring of goal achievement.

This is most effective when done continuously enabling identification and remedying of the root cause of issues ongoing.  In this model there is no right or wrong culture , only effective ones.

We’ll figure it out

Consider a culture where the focus is on, respectful conversations, where everyone’s opinion matters, anyone can affect any decision and the overriding  approach is “we’ll figure it out”.

Sounds a bit too anarchistic for most organizations (whether Corporate, Non-profit or Government).  Surprisingly the results produced from such a culture can be of a high quality.

That being said though this type of culture is hard to work in and requires strong leadership to ensure results are achieved.  In fact, this type of culture demands strong leadership to work.

It is key though for leadership to be mindful of the manage by objective concept (i.e., results) and keep their eye on this ball.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Listen to the Music #10

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On Oct 25th I started a post series that would be about the 37 live rock concerts I have attended in my life so far.

Over time, I am listing the next three best. Nine posts so far covered the top twenty seven (listed below), today’s covers twenty-five to twenty-seven.

Just a reminder; 1) Paul McCartney, 2) Led Zeppelin, 3) Elton John 4)Alice Cooper 5) Al Stewart 6) Queen 7) Bee Gees 8) Deep Purple 9) James Taylor 10)Blue Oyster Cult, 11)Johnny Winter, 12) Uriah Heep 13) The Monkees. 14) 1910 Fruitgum Company 15) Allman Brothers Band 16) Kansas 17) Styx 18) Wishbone Ash 19) Trooper 20) Brave Belt 21) Nazareth 22)BTO 23)Peter Gabriel 24) Bad Company 25) Paul Rogers 26) Jethro Tull, 27) Lady Gaga

And today’s list

28) Jeff Healey – On of the best blues musicians for me his guitar playing lets you feel the emotion and his voice is the epitome of what a blues singer should sound like.  jeff is blind but it did not hinder him at all from giving an awesome, spellbinding performance.

29)Roger Waters – I saw his theatrical performance of the wall.  What a show, as much about the performance as it was about the music.  Competently performed and enjoyable.

30) Procul Harum – One of the bands most popular albums was recorded live with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra.  This was in the early seventies and was a favorite album of mine.  I did not see them live until the mid nineties  in Toronto and I was not dissapointed at all.  A fabulous show with their biggest hit ( A Whiter Shade of Pale) still resonated – timeless.