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Issue 11 October 2006
October’s Perform is here! We hope you continue to find it both useful and a good read. To make it even better, take a five-minute break, get a drink and browse through this while you de-stress yourself. Freeing up management time for thinking is one of the benefits we deliver.
I was shocked that my son had not heard of this great Polish hero. But I am looking for suggestions for new “great leaders”. I have had one or two suggestions which I am currently investigating, but if you have any ideas please let me know. Visit our website to read the article by clicking here.
“The world is just a great big onion!” Baby-Boomers among you will recognise this as the title of a Marvin Gaye song. I want to use an onion as a metaphor for the world, life and our perceptions to show they are multi-layered like an onion. Whatever we investigate, we see the surface and as we drill down, we uncover layer after layer of reality – just like an onion. Sometimes the surface layer – or common sense – can be dramatically different to the deeper truths in the deeper layers. These thoughts spring from two workshops I attended recently. Both put over ideas that were “outer layer” rather than “deep truths”. Consequently, as commonsense, they made sense, but in fact, the ideas were false at deeper levels. This highlights two fundamental practices of learning: * critically evaluated experience It is not enough to observe. We have to question our observations and test them. We need a questioning style of learning. Drilling down through this particular onion, I realise that this is not a new idea: That a great man has been here already. That man is Reg Revans – the founder of Action Learning.
He defined the Learning equation L = P + Q where P is Programmed knowledge, i.e. books, taught subjects and Q is Questioning insight, i.e. informed experimentation, thought.
Do you use “Questioning insight” when evaluating “knowledge”? You can find a review of his book on our website here.
The “Current thinking” topic this month is different from normal. We have two helpful services we think you could use to advantage.
First, there are the details of a revision to our Help page functionality.
Feedback from users shows a demand for a completely anonymous Help function.
The website has been changed so you input your question on the Help page and the answer is posted on the FAQ page, usually within 24 hours.
This removes the need to provide your email details, which of course means you can now remain anonymous.
The second from Eastex relates to opportunities to profit from recycling initiatives. Eastex operates throughout East Anglia; their website link in the article provides contact details.
Eastex comes up smelling of Roses
Businesses and other organisations in Cambridgeshire continue to make big gains from goods passed on through the new materials exchange, Eastex.  Since going live just three months ago the free service has saved local businesses thousands of pounds on waste disposal costs as well as giving others access to hundreds of tonnes of valuable goods that would otherwise end up in Landfill. The exchange aims to find homes for anything from everyday items or manufacturing offcuts to the more bizarre such as 3 tonnes of potpourri which was recently donated to the education and play community group, ComPASS Re-store by Peterborough-based cosmetics firm “Potter and Moore”. Lesley Thomas, Project Manager for Re-store says, “we are always looking for new materials for our members to use in art and craft applications. Eastex has provided us with just that, as well as helping us to become more widely known among businesses locally. “ Ian Tennant who coordinates the region-wide materials exchange from offices at Peterborough Environment City Trust urges business to make the most of the free service, “using this pioneering waste resource can not only reduces your waste disposal costs but improves your social and environmental performance”.
More information can be found at www.eastex.org.uk/cambs
Have we made you stop and think about your own organisation and what could be gained by improving things? If you are curious about the improvements in performance that are possible, or you would like to know how to solve specific performance problems, then resolve to make a difference this minute. Call us now on 01787 378851 or email performance@motivationmatters.co.uk to start improving performance. After all Albert Einstein defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”!
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© Motivation Matters 2006
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Lech Walesa’s era was when he was growing up. Walesa’s activities are now part of history but as I have shown previously leaders come in all eras.