MargaretCollinsOnline – Thinking Out Loud…

There are lightbulb moments in life when you suddenly realise how far you have travelled.

I experienced one of these recently…

My workshop was full of 18 eager and opinionated adults. These were not typical PhD students, strong, silent and stroppy. These were people with history, experience, insight, vision and a mission to change the world – each in their own many and varied ways.

We were exploring the role of words, voice and body in meaningful communication. Normally I introduce this concept – that the way you look, move and sound has a significant impact on your audience – within a matter of minutes. With this group it unleashed a flood of opinion, a wealth of stories to evidence their experience of  “When this happened to me…”. The room buzzed and heaved and moved.

It could have been chaos but it wasn’t. Even in their passion they listened as I invited one to speak and another and a third to add their bit… It was like conducting an orchestra as they wove the coloured threads of their own learning experiences around the framework and created a magnificent work of art.

Although it took a little longer than I had anticipated the quality of the learning was deep and they had provided each other with reasons to remember this lesson.

This highlighted yes, the importance of voice and body in delivering impact to words.

It highlighted the value passion. These messages were delivered from the heart, not just the head.

It also showed me how I have learned to lead more than to manage…

Had this happened a few years ago I’d have ended the session tired and stressed. Now this was energising, rewarding and one of those moments that makes the job so rewarding!

And the delegates – what did they make of this???

“Thank you again for a great workshop, and a great time, and fun. I’m not even sure which session was better, this one or the “Time management” one. Both were extremely essential, practical, well conducted, brilliant! Thank you very much!”

‘Nuff to bring a tear to my eye and a warm glow to my heart! Thanks Mariusz.

Well, we’re now over 2 weeks into 2009 and I’m wondering whether the “goal setting frenzy” has died down.

After all, isn’t it a bit overhyped? Why do we all need to set goals anyway and why on January 1st, which is after all only an accident of time?

For years I struggled with goal setting. It felt very artificial, false. I could easily set the goal – and just as easily abandon it within days so what was the point? Wanting it badly, visualising, didn’t seem to make it any more likely that the goal would be achieved.

I always pride myself on doing my best – I’m not naturally highly competitive and doing my best always seemed to be good enough so why did I need to set other goals?

It was a little while before I really “got it”.

Just by looking around me I saw there were many really good, very nice people who were giving of their best, doing a good job, just taking life as it comes, sort of plodding along… So far as I could see they weren’t obviously setting goals though I’m more confident that they were probably doing their best on many different fronts, personally and professionally.

In honesty, that’s what I was doing on many different fronts – and that was just one of the keys. I was doing lots of things, personal and professional. If you want a picture to illustrate my predicament – I was reading books, for fun, for relaxation, for self development, for professional improvement… It wasn’t unusual for me to have six books being read at any time and none of them actually finished within six months…

People who were really making progress – the Nicola Cairncrosses and Judith Morgans of the world – were out there setting goals, chasing and challenging targets… In honesty I don’t know that they always achieved their goals (or finished their books!) but I could see what they were chasing, where they were headed.

And the penny dropped – The goal itself isn’t magical but it give a focus to activity.

I read something recently that went something like this:
Vision without Action is a daydream
Action without Vision is simply passing the time
Action with Vision is making a positive difference. (Joel Barker)

And maybe that’s what the process of goal setting does.

Going through the process of goal setting makes sure I make the time to create a concrete and measurable vision rather than a daydream. The act of pursuing a goal couples the vision with focussed action.

It isn’t a magic wand but it certainly makes a positive difference to my world.

And no, there’s nothing magical about New Year, just about anytime that you’re prepared to combine both vision and action is a pretty good time to set a new goal.

Are you ready?

I was just well enough to go to midnight Mass this year – with my cough, no singing in the choir for me though!!

It was a wonderful event, very gentle and a great experience of the caring community that a Church can be at it’s best.

Towards the end of the service, before we were sent on our way, the priest went “walk about” in the congregation talking to the small number of young children who had been allowed to stay up late enough to attend this service… his question to them was predictable enough “And what are you hoping for when you get home?”

We were all reduced to laughter when one four year old mite yelled at the top of her lungs “I want a Wii!!!!!”.

If only we’d captured that one on video.

Tomorrow holds a “Managing Research Projects” workshop so today I was travelling.

Journey was fine and I stopped to shop before heading to the hotel.

As I passed the supermarket self-service checkouts (and please, don’t get me started on self-service checkouts!!!) I noticed a neatly-folded note on the floor. Was it?? Yes it was!! I was now the posessor of £10 pounds that, a minute before, was not mine. Not another soul to be seen in the vicinity of the checkout.

So what would you do? Smile, put it in your pocket and walk away or hand it over to the Store…

I wasn’t sure. I paused, looked around – for what I’m not quite sure.
It didn’t help.

So I walked over to the Customer Services desk and handed over the dosh. I hope the owner returns to claim it. When the woman behind the counter told me “You’re too honest!” I wondered whether I was more the fool but, hey, job done and off I went.

Safely at the hotel now I stride toward Reception. There’s that awful moment when you give your name and wait while they scan the reservations, and of course, after a delay that seems forever, there you are on the second page!

But not tonight.

No booking in my name, not even in my first name, not from Cardiff and, not even with the Booking Reference number I received in my confirmation email!!!! Thank goodness for confirmation emails.

But not tonight. There was no room at this inn.

While I contemplated sleeping in the car, noting that frost was already forming on the windscreens outside, I wondered what happened to weary travellers without a room. Do we double-up with strangers, sleep on a sofa in the bar, get farmed out to other hotels??

The Manager was called, hushed discussions, someone sent scurrying and please would I wait in the bar area… It seemed like an age watching Celtic play football – but that was possibly because of the football!

The Manager returned: “Would I mind having an apartment?”. I mean, would you mind?

So now I find myself with two ensuite bedrooms at my disposal, a kitchen and a lounge… rattling around all on my own with free wifi and a warm radiator.

What more can a woman want?

Was that worth the £10 pounds I handed over?

Just rewards indeed!

Barack Obama goes where no black man has gone before.

Today has seen a defining moment in American and in world history.

You may or may not be happy with the result. You may doubt whether this young – yes, 47 still counts as young in global leader terms – whether this young man has the skills to make a great President of the USA. What you cannot doubt is that you are watching history in the making.

Yes, now we can believe anything is possible. Barack Obama has motivated many Americans to get out and vote for the first time in their lives or following many years of cynical apathy.

John McCain, even in defeat is emphasising that we/he must look to the future, for opportunities to serve his country.

Martin Luther King had his dream, that his children be judged, not by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character. Have we seen that day in our lifetime?

Obama himself asked “Is there anyone who still doubts… that anything is possible”.

Amazing as this result is, we still need to remember that this successful election campaign cost this particular candidate more than 5 billion dollars. The Obama team has skillfully used new media, video, YouTube and email campains… and can you believe that YouTube didn’t even feature in the last presidential campaign?! How times change!

Maybe one piece of good news more locally is the recent observation that in the UK, for the first time in years, maybe ever, educational success has less to do with the wealth of your parents. So maybe we are beginning to recognise and reward talent.

Given that we spend so much of our time telling our 16 and 18 year olds that the exams they spend months and years preparing for are getting easier and their qualifications (by implication) are worth-less, perhaps we need to rethink how we shape our dreams.

Mind you, with the realisation that success can still cost a lot of money (whether for an election campaign or for higher education) we should also acknowledge that we need to shape fundraisers, people who can create wealth, who can motivate real people to work together for change, to make a difference.

What a future!