Gotta be 'kerfing' for resilience

It’s been a busy couple of week for me which has impacted on the time I’ve had to blog. I’ve been working hard to finish updating ‘The Resilient Leader’ programme which will be ready for launching in the New Year.

It’s been a good example of where you really have to focus in on a priority to achieve a specific goal within a fixed timeline. Like most people in business I believe I can improve and know I need to effectively manage the time I give myself to manage my emails and other communications. The first step is ‘habitulising’ the discipline of only working on emails at fixed times, whilst managing expectations of those who assume that a response will be immediately forthcoming. I’m getting pretty good at this, however I do need to work on keeping the amount of time set aside for emails down to a minimum.

Focus is a key part of ‘The Resilient Leader’ programme as it provides you with a clearer structure to your working day that allows the cut through to complete key tasks.

Structure is one of the three components of the S-A-W (Structure, Attitude, Wellbeing) system that I work through with clients. 

Whilst researching the programme I came up with a interesting word which I’ve never come across before.

The word is ‘kerf’

If you look at the section of a traditional hand saw you can see that the teeth flare out alternatively allowing the blade to cut through the material without getting jammed.

The total width of the flared teeth is known as the ‘kerf’ of the blade and is critical for a saw to perform effectively.

I really like the word and thought about how I could use it as an acronym that summarises the benefits of adopting the S-A-W system.

I came up with the following....

Keep...

Energised – taking action to fuel both mind and body (Wellbeing)

Related – to self and others (Attitude)

Focused – to achieve desired outcomes (Structure)

So I will keep ‘kerfing’ to ensure that normal blogging service is resumed!


For a free copy of my guide to the seven steps that can improve your company's competitive advantage please click on the link below


http://www.martincrisp.com/freebook/

Refreshing the parts other activities cannot reach

‘Will nature make a man of me yet’ is a line from The Smiths rather wonderful song ‘This Charming Man’. The band provided me with the soundtrack to my years at university and it is with some excitement that I will hear those songs performed live again tonight by tribute band ‘The Smyths’.

This week has been quite reflective for me.

On Sunday and Monday I enjoyed a restful two day break in the heart of the Cotswolds with my wife. During this time we visited the rather wonderful Westonbirt Arboretum which is currently showcasing stunning woodland full of brilliant autumnal colours. Go to http://www.forestry.gov.uk/westonbirt for more information.

Returning recharged I noticed a significantly sharper edge to my questioning when coaching three of my clients which I believe added more value to the sessions.

Last night I indulged in yet more nostalgia by heading off to Ally Pally to see The Specials; another era defining band from my youth. Interesting how their songs which defined the unrest of the early 80’s feel so relevant in today’s turbulent world. The energy, joy and passion of the audience made the concert truly memorable, helping you forget the lack of intimacy of the cavernous venue.

So what have been the benefits of all this fresh air and live music in terms of building resilience?

Well I can think of three areas...

Firstly the opportunity to both recharge the batteries and gain some perspective about what’s really important in life.  Getting back to nature can be really grounding as you admire the trees and plants that have been  around for hundreds, if not thousands of years.

Nature also helps us appreciate that everything in life is cyclical and that includes us humans. We need time to recharge and recuperate to allow us to be at our best, whether that be getting a good night’s sleep or working in smarter 90 minute chunks during the day.

Finally we sometimes forget the beneficial effects of being able to indulge ourselves in the interests and passions we know provides us with so much energy and enthusiasm. As you can probably guess I love seeing live music and always find it never fails to provide me with a natural high that helps me in other aspects of my life.

So to paraphrase an old beer advert...What are you going to be doing this weekend to help recharge, reenergise and refresh the parts other tasks and activities cannot reach?

or.... 

in the words of Morrissey.... ‘What difference will it make?’

For a free copy of my guide to the seven steps that can improve your company’s advantage please click on the link below

http://www.martincrisp.com/freebook/

Resilient reflections from a hospital bed

In the grand scheme of things I really wasn't expecting to be reflecting on what an emergency admission to hospital can teach us the resilient leader however hear I am on the 7th floor of my local hospital looking across the West London skyline.
So what have been the three big learns for me over the past couple of days?


How would you react to the unexpected?


Four days ago I was completing a two day workshop on how building relationships support effective leaders. The group were excellent and it was a pleasure to be around such highly motivated individuals. During the second day I noticed that I was getting an increasingly painful ache on the right side of my abdomen. By the time I got home I could barely get out of the car. After finding little relief from taking some painkillers my wife and I took a taxi to our local A & E. Various consultations were leading towards the options of constipation, kidney stones, gall bladder and finally appendicitis. After various tests the latter was confirmed and within 24 hours I was in the operating theatre.
So how did I react?
Well quite philosophically in that I immediately thought through the implications of being out of action for a short period of time.
I did have an important meeting the next day however a text and a phone call from my wife  was met with total appreciation of the situation and a future date tbc.
It is times like this when it's easy to think of all the negative implications of the unexpected however a useful exercise to do is answer the 5 'worst case scenarios' questions that come to mind. It's amazing how potential solutions arise which demonstrate how enterprising we can become at times of challenge.


Stay positive and flexible


Being creatures of habit, imposed change can always be challenging, however this experience has taught me that even the more undesirable experiences offer up opportunities. For example the time in hospital has given me some valuable thinking time to work through the next three months in my mind and map them out on my iPad. I also had some time to read through a book I had wanted to work through which probably would have been pushed back to later in the year.
The power of the blackberry helps keep us in touch with family and friends and it has been so positive to receive so many warm wishes of support. The power of the iPad means my wife and I have been indulging in our scrabble addiction during visiting time.
And finally I was able to read the weekend papers thoroughly without distraction or guilt which has been a real treat.
So I'm certainly not coming out of the experience thinking I've wasted four days of my life.


Be prepared


The good news is that I am writing this posting with a view to being discharged after three days of surgery. Many of the patients sharing my ward are here for the longer term. I do believe that maintaining good health in your everyday life does hold you in good stead for when emergencies happen. It has got to be the ultimate health insurance that we all need to invest in.
For a free copy of my guide to the seven steps that can improve your companies advantage please click on the link below

http://www.martincrisp.com/freebook/

Authentic networking for resilience

Building great relationships at work is a key factor of becoming a resilient leader. When networking it's important for an individual to feel comfortable and authentic in their approach. It is very easy to see how people see networking as a difficult activity that will result in the creation of artificial relationships that feel shallow and unproductive.

So how do you network if it doesn’t come naturally to you?

Here are three ideas that could help.

Be clear about what you want to achieve

It can be useful to firstly consider how developing a business relationship will create a win:win:win situation around:

- how I can benefit from developing this relationship
- how the other party could benefit
- how the organisation /s could benefit from the relationship

ie. creating a true win: win: win scenario   This also helps break down those limiting beliefs around the value you can provide the other person. Think of your limiting belief like a coffee table. By challenging the 'evidence' that underpins the limiting belief you start to dismantle it in your mind. This is effectively like removing each of the legs of your coffee table one by one.

Develop an ‘elevator' sentence that helps people understand what you do.

It's funny how we sometimes struggle to succinctly say what we do for a living when initially asked. Some job titles are self explanatory many of us can get a bit tongue tied when asked.

Many people have heard of the 'elevator pitch' and perhaps see it as a bit of a gimick or tool to be used exclusively by hard hitting marketing directors.

However, having a sentence that initially follows up your job title can really help build both confidence and rapport. Firstly think of who you help in the job you do, whether that be an individual, department or organsation. Then think about how you help them and combine it into a sentence.

So for example

‘I help telecommunication companies to react quickly to new developments in the marketplace.’

‘I help companies who are concerned about losing valuable data assess the risks to their business.’

Incidentally unless you are talking to a fellow expert avoid technical jargon and explain what you do in everyday language.   

      Build trust by being genuinely interested in the other person

Think of people you know and trust. What do those trusted individuals do to build that trust? Remember trust is absolute; there is no such thing as partial trust, it either exists or it doesn't.

Understanding your own personal motivation and behaviour helps deliver the core requirements of trust. So think through the answers to the following

'What motivates me?'

' Why do I behave the way I do?'

' What affects my behaviour?'

Trust centres around the virtous circle of giving and getting. We get satisfaction and pleasure from being trusted and as we are trusted more, our own trustworthiness grows

In his ‘principle centred leadership’ model Stephen Covey identifies four levels of practice, starting with trustworthiness at the personal level, which then leads to trust at the interpersonal level. He goes onto breakdown trustworthiness into two key components;

- Character ie. what you are as a person

- Competence ie. what you can do

For example you make like your doctor as a person but if you feel they lack competence to do their job you wouldn’t necessarily trust them. Alternatively the GP maybe extremely competent but you have heard that they carry out unnecessary work to secure additional income. In this case the character of the doctor is in question and trustworthiness is diminished.

For a free copy of my guide to the seven steps that can improve your companies advantage please click on the link below

 http://www.martincrisp.com/freebook/

Unlocking those beliefs that hold us back

So…
As you may have guessed my regular exercise of choice is
swimming. About a month ago a leaflet dropped
through the door to advertise our local gym. I had been using the swimming pool
at the local leisure centre however I calculated that I would actually save
money if I joined the gym as it contained a decent sized pool.
On my first day the lady informed me that I would need a
padlock to secure my valuables in one of the lockers. ..
And..
for £5 I could purchase a shiny new one . Now this seemed
like a reasonable price for a combination lock until I actually got it out of
the packet.
Because there in front of me was the most cheap- looking
padlock I had ever seen… a padlock so shiny and light I thought it was
plastic.
‘What a piece of rubbish’, I told myself as I struggled to
set a combination code I could remember.
So for the next few weeks I diligently swam every other day,
looking with distain at this awful security device each time I got changed.
What made it even worse was the shininess meant it picked up the intensity of
the changing room spotlights above so I could barely read the numbers. This
often resulted in me taking a couple of minutes to fiddle the right combination
into position.
Then last week disaster struck. After taking my shower I once
again struggled to locate those magic three numbers. However many times I
tried it the lock wouldn’t budge.
I was beginning to get annoyed… very annoyed!
Five minutes later I was still there, dripping away,
desperately trying and retrying to locate my code. Finally I felt I had no other
option than to seek help.
So off I went to find a member of staff.
This involved me having to head into the main gym area in my towel, much to the
bemusement of other members. After finally locating a member of staff I explained my
frustration with their cheap lock which had left me in this rather embarrassing
predicament. He calmly followed me into the changing room and had a look at the
lock, tried the combination.. without success and then asked me if this was my
locker.
Now I was really getting cross… ‘Of course it’s my locker’
I replied desperately trying to keep my cool. Interestingly there were four
neighbouring lockers with the exact same padlock securing their owners
valuable.
‘Well I wonder if this really is my locker‘I thought to
myself.
Sheepishly I attempted to unlock the neighbouring locker and
without any trouble the lock pinged open in front of me.
Of course the member of staff was desperately trying not to
laugh as I apologised for the inconvenience caused.
Reflecting on my way home I wondered how I didn’t even think
to try the neighbouring lockers even though it was the logical thing to do.
Simply…
my belief about the quality of the lock has got in the
way of all logic and reason, fogging my mind and preventing me from thinking
straight.
And in business, how many times do we hold onto a belief that
gets in the way of decisive decision making and logical thought.
Worth a thought perhaps?

For a free copy of my guide to the seven steps that can improve your companies advantage please click on the link below

 http://www.martincrisp.com/freebook/

Have fun giving back

Mark Twain suggested that 'work and play are words used to describe the same thing under different conditions.' Employees don’t necessarily associate the workplace as a ‘fun’ environment however companies can consider ways of creating energy and interest into the business without compromising productivity.

Stress in the workplace is becoming an increasingly challenging issue which is borne out by a recent report that suggested that the use of anti-depressants had increased by 40% in just the past four years.

If you go back to the ancient times an investment in humour, courtesy of a court jester, was considered a necessity. Some American companies have even introduced a ‘Director of Mirth’ to co-ordinate fun in the workplace. Now this maybe a step too far for UK companies but I believe it is useful for senior management teams to introduce humour and fun where appropriate as research has shown an improvement in creativity and productivity where successfully implemented. John Cleese suggests that a sense of humour moves us from a closed to an open mode faster than anything else. Humour is also good for customer relations as a shared moment of amusement is one of the quickest ways to build good relationships.

Humour can have a positive impact on your employees’ health as research has shown that laughter ultimately relaxes the body, lowering heart rate and blood pressure by promoting deeper breathing.

Giving something back gives people satisfaction and a sense of purpose. Many successful companies encourage their employees to enjoy working together to fundraise for local or national good causes.

Some actions for your consideration

1. Introduce an element of fun to the Monday morning briefing. A very simple way to do this is to introduce a competition between departments to predict the weekly sales or profit performance.

2. Consider ways of improving presentations to engage employees. Starting a presentation with a question or mini quiz stimulates interest. Use of images that are totally unrelated to the subject in hand can be effective as it creates inquisitiveness. For example, I used a popular TV quiz show format to help the audience appreciate the targets we needed to hit to great effect.

 3. Icebreakers are often used to warm colleagues up at meetings or conferences and it can be a challenge to come up with something a bit different. The best ones I've used involve people working in small teams to achieve a task. When sensing a drop in energy levels, initiate an impromptu massage session with each participant massaging the back and neck of the person next to them.

 4. Add some light-heartedness to meetings. During breaks, consider introducing a fun game. It could involve doing something physical such as throwing balls into a waste paper basket or a mental challenge such as listing all the songs with a particular word in the title. It’s even better if the word relates to a particular challenge that the group is working on. Saying that I can’t think of many songs that have the word ‘productivity’ in the title!

5. If innovation is an essential requirement of your business, why not create a room to stimulate the creative juices? This could be as simple as painting the room a different colour or colours and introducing a large white board to capture ideas. Replace traditional office furniture with coloured cubes or exercise balls to create a totally different environment.

6. Get involved in a charity event. You don’t need to create your own charity event. Find out what charitable events are already planned for your area which your company could support. For example, the British Heart Foundation organises a variety of sponsored activities (hiking, swimming, or jogging and even parachuting) throughout the year and across the country. http://www.bhf.org.uk/get-involved/events.aspx

7. Raising money doesn’t need to involve completing a marathon or carrying out a three-peak challenge. It can simply mean wearing a particular piece of clothing for charity such a 'jeans for genes day' or a pink shirt for breast cancer awareness. Last year, I took part in a ‘Movember’ fundraising event and grew a rather dodgy Seventies-style moustache to raise money for The Prostate Cancer Charity. http://uk.movember.com/?home

More ideas and thoughts around helping businesses become Fit for Business can be found in my free book. Just click the link below.

http://www.martincrisp.com/freebook/

Post holiday wellbeing commitments

As we leave the summer months behind I have no doubt that whilst taking a well deserved break many of you were considering committing to some kind of improvement activity. Many of us find the relaxing time spent on a beach an opportune time to reflect on the things we really do need to try and start doing. It's almost like a going back to school mentality where starting the autumn term was defined by new uniform, new teacher and shiny new pencil case.

And it's funny when considering how we can improve our wellbeing that the very thing right in front of us is often disregarded. I'm talking about water, whether it be the sea or pool and the art of swimming.

Now I’ve never been a particularly good swimmer historically and would struggle to complete more than a couple of lengths at a time without pausing for breath. A couple of years ago my brother came to stay with us and suggested going swimming one afternoon. Since then I have steadily worked away at improving my technique to a point where I recently completed a one mile sea swim to raise money for the British Heart Foundation.

So why am I so passionate about swimming?

Well…

Fundamentally swimming is a great way to exercise so many different muscles in your body. It is also is a low impact activity which is great if you suffer from a bit of osteoarthritis. For me I like the fact that my body doesn't overheat in the way it often does when carrying out over cardio activity. 

And there’s more..

for the reason why I personally love swimming is the calming benefits it has on the mind. I often find I can go into an almost trance like state after a short period, finally leaving the pool feeling totally refreshed, re-energised and calm.

I have also found swimming excellent when needing to work through an issue in my mind and for some reason I seem to gain a greater clarity of thought with better options emerging. I'm aware that there is some science behind this however I'm not going to explore this in detail right now.

So if I have inspired you to at least consider trundling off to your nearest leisure centre pool here's a few ideas and advice for you to consider.

 - Have a go and see if you genuinely enjoy swimming. It's not for everyone.

- If you do enjoy it then consider having a few lessons early on to improve your technique.

- An interesting swimming technique often used by triathletes is called ‘Total Immersion’ which was developed by Terry Loughlin. This option is also favoured by ‘4 hour week’ author TImothy Ferris and is described in his comprehensive guide ‘The 4 Hour Body'.

- When practicing focus on one particular element of your technique and really master it. For example getting the breathing right will make a huge difference to both the quality and duration of the swim.

- Buy yourself some good googles... I've tried many and the best by far are the Aqua Sphere Kaimen brand which simply doesn’t leak. Another huge advantage is you can adjust them without removing them from your head.

- Don't swim in your baggy shorts. I did this for the first year not realising how much resistance they produce. Opt for a streamline speedo trunk cut off just above the knee cap (not the tiny trunks unless you really want to) and save the shorts for holidays.

- If you can start practicing in a smaller, shallower pool as it's easier to focus on your technique.

- Many leisure pools offer discounted bulk sessions

- Don't swim on an empty stomach. Most people know not to swim just after eating however you aren't doing yourself any favours if you swim on a totally empty stomach. Have a light snack about 30 to 60 minutes prior such as yoghurt, fruit , or some hummus and vegetable crudités depending on the time of day.

So there you go.. Give it a try and see if it works for you.

If you would like a copy of my free book 'Fit for business' then please just click on the link below

http://www.martincrisp.com/freebook/

Is this Bank Holiday an opportunity to really indulge in something you enjoy?

No doubt many readers are looking forward to the final Bank Holiday of the summer. This particular Bank Holiday always takes me back to when I was in my teens and the fair coming to town. On the Monday they always reduced the price of the rides to just 10p (showing my age) so everybody seemed to be there.

This Bank Holiday we’ve decided to focus on just two things ....
- Visiting my mother who is based on the South Coast
- Decorating the loft room for which I mean repaint the walls and woodwork.

And this is the last time I’m going to log onto my computer until Tuesday morning. Now I’m not trying to be smug in any way as I’m sure many of you will have to review emails from work especially if you are on call. If however there is no real logical reason for you to jump to attention when the blackberry rumbles could I challenge you to have a break from it and have a chance to focus on one thing that you really want to do.
Now I know this is easier said than done as we all have adopted a life where multitasking has become the norm. Technology has supposed to have made our lives easier yet when you stop to think about it we have used these advances to cram more multi tasking into our already hectic days. ..and please don’t think that I can sit here and say I don’t succumb to these opportunities.
It is really difficult.

However researching this as part of my work to support leaders become more resilient the inability to sustain attention is not the only consequence of multitasking.

Research has shown that multitasking can lead to...

- becoming easily distracted by extraneous stimuli

- tasks actually taking longer to complete than if they were tackled individually

- difficulties around organising workload effectively

- overload, stress and ultimately burnout

Is it any wonder in so many work environments where desks are open planned that workers are finding it increasingly difficult to achieve quality, focused work and lack of concentration is becoming widely accepted as normal behaviour.

So what if you really can’t leave those e mails behind you for three days?
Well  why not allow yourself a short, uninterrupted period to look at your emails each day which gives you enough time to take necessary action if required. .. typically first thing in the morning so you aren’t constantly thinking about them throughout the day.
Agree the period of time with yourself or your partner and then stop, log off or turn your blackberry to silent.
Then close your eyes and take some deep breaths and try to switch off the internal chatter is no doubt still going on in your head. Count your breaths in and out a dozen times, trying to remain focused on the act of breathing.
Finally go and do something, anything as long as you focus your attention on it and really appreciate what you are doing.
I dare you!
The author Winifred Gallagher summed it up well and is quoted in Tony Schwartz and Jean Gomes’ excellent book ‘Be Excellent at Anything’.
“Paying rapt attention, whether to a trout stream or a novel, a D-I-Y project or a prayer, increases your concentration, expands your inner boundaries, and lifts your spirits, but more important, it makes you feel that life is worth living.”

I will be remembering this as  I dig the paint rollers out of the shed.

If you would like a copy of my free book 'Fit for business' then please just click on the link below

http://www.martincrisp.com/freebook/

A level resilience

Like many parents I spent Thursday morning anxiously waiting to hear how my middle daughter had done in her A levels. It's been a challenging year for her as she has had to manage the disappointment of not being offered a place on the course which she had set her heart on.

Now, like everyone we all went through the emotional cycle of change experiencing feelings of disbelief, denial, anger etc. I was concerned that the set back may impact on my daughters motivation to do as well as she could in her forthcoming exams. What made it worse was that the college she applied to was not prepared to give any feedback as to what specifically had led to their decision so at least my daughter could have gained some feedback for future applications.

After the initial disappointment my daughter picked herself up and focused back on her studies with a calmness and determination that has impressed us all. Although fully immersed in her studies my daughter continued to attempt to make contact with the university to find out more information that could help her with a future application.

So a timely tale to share which I think links well to the three resilient attitudes identified by Salvatore Maddi and Deborah Khoshaba in their excellent book 'Resilience at Work'. In the book they suggest that the attitudes of commitment, control and challenge came up repeatedly when analysing a group of resilient managers.

Commitment from the point of view that if an individual’s work or studies is important enough to them then full attention, focus and effort will follow.

Control in that an individual keeps trying to positively influence the outcomes of the changes going on around them.

Challenge in the fact that an individual faces into potentially stressful changes, seek to understand and learn from them before establishing a plan to move forward.

Over the past six months my daughter has worked through the implications of taking a year out and constructed a plan to maximise her chances of success next time around. This included securing part time employment and seeking voluntary work in a local school.

So does this story have a happy ending?

Well it does actually and I'm proud to say that my daughter achieved better grades than were required for her entry onto the course. She  then spent several frustrating hours trying to contact the university to advise them of her success.

..and the result?

A place on the course starting in October!

We are all very proud of her not only in terms of her academic achievement but also around the resilient maturity demonstrated.

So we are now preparing to celebrate her success on the fields of Chelmsford as we head off to the V festival and looking outside the window it's raining.

Looks like we will all have to demonstrate a level of resilience this weekend!

If you would like a copy of my free book 'Fit for business' then please just click on the link below

http://www.martincrisp.com/freebook/

Outdoor eating for resilience

So you've been good at work all week and eaten regularly and healthily, maintaining your energy levels throughout the day. It's the weekend and the sun is threatening to shine and the thought of outdoor entertaining crosses your mind.

For some reason I haven’t had many opportunities to demonstrate my barbecuing skills this summer. Perhaps I should have taken advantage of the wonderful weather we had a Easter.

It’s often said that barbecues brings out the ‘caveman’ instincts in us males as we grapple and turn our kebabs and burgers to stop them from burning.   In fact little has changed in terms of our body make up since those prehistoric times...

And that's what seems to be causing such a big issue for us in the 21st century as our bodies struggle to cope with the refined carbs that play havoc with our sugar levels, causing lack of sustainable energy and obesity.

These refined carbs are a bit like the 'instant light' type of barbecue coals you can purchase in that they heat up quickly to such a heat that the food can easily get burnt. The coals also cool down as quick as they heated up giving a relatively short time to cook all your food.

On the other hand the compacted shaped briquettes take longer to get going however provide a steady workable heat that lasts considerably longer. These briquettes are like the complex carbs of low glycemic load which release sugars into the body in a more steady predictable way. This in turn prevents the blood sugar spikes that leads to the body having to literally defend itself by releasing large amounts of insulin which mops up the excess sugar that ultimately gets converted into fat.

So here are a few pointers if you're planning to indulge in a bit of outside entertaining

- try kebabs made up of either chicken, turkey or prawns alternated with peppers, tomatoes courgettes and mushrooms.

- if you are a fan of the instant light coals then it's probably worth starting the chicken off in the oven...  a good reason to go for the longer lasting briquettes!

- if you want a burger go for a good quality one with minimal amounts of fat... Or even better make your own.

- venison sausages have a far lower fat content  and have a great meaty taste

- for vegetarians, consider kebabs with tofu or halloumi instead of meat

- potato salad seems to be the side dish of choice at so many barbecues however why not try something a little bit lighter such as three bean salad

- if you are barbecuing some vegetable for the kebabs why not cook a few more to mix with couscous or quinoa along with some small cubes of feta cheese to make a delicious side dish.

.. And remember if you've got any leftovers to take them into work for either snacking or lunchtime.

For more information on eating to build resilience, health and wellbeing please click on the link below to receive a free copy of my book 'Fit for business.. 7 steps to improve your company's competitive advantage.'

http://www.martincrisp.com/freebook/

Resilient Riot Reflections

Well it’s been a week of extreme emotions for many of us in the UK as people took to the streets and decided to riot, rob and destroy their local communities. Living in Ealing I felt firsthand the emotions of fear, anger and sheer frustration as to why people feel compelled to take this sort of action. I say ‘people ‘ as opposed to ‘youths’ as it has become clear that a large cross section of people of differing backgrounds and age groups decided to join in.

David Cameron today suggested the reasons for the riots were complex and I’m not about to throw down my own theory.

This morning my wife asked me to recall one of the stories from the Tony Robbins book ‘Awaken the Giant Within’ about the two brothers with the alcoholic abusive father. In summary each of the brothers had been interviewed independently in their mid years about their background and the impact it had on their life to date. One of the brothers had worked hard and had become a very successful business man whilst the other had taken a similar path to his father turning to drink and drugs.

Interestingly when each brother was asked what factors had influenced their path to date they gave an almost identical answer...

‘Well what do you expect when you had a father like that.’

The story really struck me at the time and I have often quoted it to clients and groups to help demonstrate how you really can ‘choose your attitude’ to life, work, or whatever....

... and I guess we have seen this exact same scenario being played out over the last couple of days with people from similar, often challenging backgrounds choosing their attitude and behaving accordingly.

It would certainly appear that many of the rioters don’t value other people’s property, feelings or sense of community. The most distressing image for me over the past few days was to see an independent shopkeeper sitting in his van, in tears next to his looted premises that he had steadily built up over a number of years.

I think it’s probably fair to say that most of us don’t find the time to take a step off the merry-go-round of our hectic lives and reflect on what is truly important to us as individuals..

 our 'core' values

... and how on reflection these values inevitably revolve around relationships, a sense of belonging and purpose, not material goods... and in business it is usually no different when observing  companies made up of resilient, dedicated and motivated teams.

Let’s hope that at least a proportion of those involved in the looting will take a look at their newly acquired Blackberry, Plasma TV or designer trainers and reflect on the impact their actions have had on their fellow human beings.

If you would like a copy of my free book 'Fit for business' then please just click on the link below

http://www.martincrisp.com/freebook/

When to remove one of your spinning plates

I was talking to one of my coaching clients recently  around how best to manage their workload and focus on the tasks that really create value.

When coaching I sometimes use the analogy of the spinning plates.

This can help leaders appreciate the need to maintain momentum in every area of their business and therefore prevent any 'plate' completely falling off its stick.

It may be that the plate is spinning well and just needs the occasional tweak... for example if a project has been successfully delegated to a competent member of the team.

It may be that the plate is wobbling precariously and requires some serious help to gain enough momentum to get it spinning comfortably again.... an example here could be a key person in your network who you've neglected to keep in touch with.

However....

There are some 'plates' that occasionally can't been spun however wobbly they might get. This could be an issue which has simply been taken out of your control or an external factor over which you have no influence over.

A resilient leader may rightly challenge this scenario, however where appropriate accepts the situation and moves on to focus on what they can influence and progress. 

So is spinning plate analogy broken?

Well maybe... or maybe you could simply remove the plate off it's stick and put it to one side. The issue may come back into play at a later date or it may become making there one less 'plate' to worry about.
Maintaining a clear focus on the task at hand whilst operating in today’s busy workplace environment is becoming increasingly difficult, resulting in bigger demands on people’s internal energy systems and potentially reducing resilience.
More information on how to maintain focus at work can be found in my new booklet..

'Fit for business: 7 steps that will dramatically improve your company's competitve edge.'

Click on the link below to receive you free copy

http://www.martincrisp.com/freebook/
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