Small talk

Small talk is a social norm used to pass the time with frivolous conversation. It doesn't mean anything. It is merely a chance for people to connect whilst passing time. It is most definitely not an opportunity to unload all of your problems onto someone. Identifying small talk is a handy skill, responding to it … Continue reading Small talk →

MITs

Firefighting is exhausting and it never leaves time for planning for the future. In his book Zen Habits, Leo Babauta recommends this great practice called listing your MITs. It stands for Most Important Tasks and these are the tasks that will bring you one step closer to your long term goals. What you do is … Continue reading MITs →

Impatience at the roundabout

I've noticed that the longer someone waits to enter the roundabout the more risk adverse they become. Their impatience with the traffic increases their willingness to make rash decisions. 'I was waiting there for ages' isn't a worthy excuse for causing an accident.

Face to face feedback

There was a teacher who at the end of a school year asked their class if there were any suggestions for improving it. An admirable thing to do. The students began to give their feedback and not all of it was praise. The teacher was very clearly wounded by this and quickly became irritable. The … Continue reading Face to face feedback →

Boring meeting sign

You know it's a boring meeting when the attendants have progressed from pretending to be on their phone to blatantly on their phone.

The ten in rugby

The ten in rugby is a key playmaker for every team. They are pivotal in attack and can often be the difference between a good team and a great team. As a result, the ten gets targeted by the opposition. The opposition will hit him hard, they will hit him late, they will do anything … Continue reading The ten in rugby →

Transfer of knowledge

Paul O’Connell was on ‘Off the ball’ recently and he was talking about his experiences with coaching. He found that one of the biggest challenges is communicating the transfer of knowledge. When he’s trying to get his message across there’s doubts about whether the listener understood it. In his head it makes sense but does … Continue reading Transfer of knowledge →

Hierarchical queries

When something is wrong the queries fly down the hierarchy. This puts the middle manager in an awkward position because the middle manager doesn't know what's going on but his boss is looking for an answer. So he looks to the guy who works on it daily and basically says: "Give me something that can … Continue reading Hierarchical queries →

Reporting metaphor

Reporting is a lot like doing favours, people are happy to do it as long as it doesn’t take over their life* *This does not apply to those who like to report.

Creative feedback

With creative feedback it's important to remember that there is no correct answer. It's not a case of I'm right and you're wrong, it's all subjective. If two people disagree then it's simply a clash of opinions, nothing more. When JK Rowling got rejected by that first publisher she didn't start to think 'Harry Potter … Continue reading Creative feedback →