Matt Cartwright, consulting, coaching, facilitation - Professional Facilitator - Matt Cartwright

SHIFT HAPPENS...JOB CUTS and More...

29/8/2012

SHIFT HAPPENS

“If we don’t shift our intention, direction and action we will end up where we are headed”

SHIFT HAPPENS. So… start accepting it. Let go of trying to stop the change or slow it down. There are likely to be 7 billion other similar stories just like yours, they just have different characters and plots but the same underlying message. Everyone you talk to is sick of change. One approach is to be more effective rather than be affected by it.

Are you working in a stuck or non-stuck environment? If not….get yourself into a Teflon Team. Stop sticking to old habits, old processes, old teams, old whining and shift. There is a lot of bad press around the economy, job cuts, poverty, famine and war. It is serious, so get serious and SHIFT into gear.

Use all the gears to leverage your mindset and workplace to where it needs to shift.

In many facilitation exercises we talk about the current and future state, the important bits are in the middle…”the action state”…or the “shifting state.” The shifting state delivers targeted action, lots of it and regularly. Guess what? SHIFT happens. Most if it starts within the mind then shifts into behaviour.

“SHIFTING” is what I coined some time ago. It’s a deliberate process of shifting thoughts, behaviours, attitudes to develop a more adaptable, resilient and optimistic view in a shifting world. It’s a holistic process that deals with complex systems and aims to understand and respond to them with more agility and sustainability.

STRAINING…..Have you noticed how workplaces over-process, over-engineer, over-produce, over-change and over strain? It’s time to get over it…don’t you think?

UNDERSTANDING YOUR SHIFT

Whenever we change one type of behaviour or situation, we are losing as well as gaining something. In order to sustain real and lasting change in the workplace we need to change ourselves first. Everyone can shift. Shifting is challenging and requires effort but not straining. The juggling act is “knowing,” that is, knowing not to get caught up in everyone’s emergency, urgency or dramas. Of course we must balance what’s important and necessary. How you view or feel about a situation is always your choice.

So…SHIFT YOURSELF to think and do what matters most. Be more effective, be lateral, be creative, be a SHIFTER. Don’t get caught up in the change, we have limited influence and control over what people decide to change in the workplace but we can shift our focus.

Journey well,
Matt Cartwright
Inspiring People, Inspiring Business, Inspiring Results
© Copyright 2008 -12

Make Today Count and Make Decisions to Act on Important Things

9/4/2012

Make today count and make decisions to act on important things

Time is an equal opportunity employer, but how we treat time is not equal.

Many people will up wake today in a box, eat breakfast from a box, get to work in a box, turn on the box when they get to work, sit in a box, got to meetings in a box, go home in a box, sit down in front of a box, get dinner out of a box and maybe open a cylinder.    Does it sound familiar to you or others around you?

If something is vitally missing for you at work then I challenge you to make today count. Good decisions make a better today and a better tomorrow. From my blogs you have probably gathered I like to keep it simple. Simple is often hardest.   For example:

What are you avoiding at work?
Who are you avoiding at work?
Why are you avoiding these people or tasks?
What’s the payoff for you?

Elite performers, don’t avoid pain, they strengthen their will, their bodies and their intentions. They ask more powerful questions, seek inspiring answers and make every training session count.

Remember pay now, play later, or play now, pay later.

The truth is we all pay at some stage, there are no free lunches in the work place.

Here are three questions to focus your decisions

If you are really serious about improving team performance or your own performance ask the following:

What is required of me?
What gives me the greatest return?
What gives me the greatest reward?

These questions may help you focus on what areas to overlook for a while.

It’s not selfish, it’s life. People perform best when they focus on their preferred work preferences and their personal priorities.

How to motivate people is the perennial question of many supervisors. I always suggest you start with yourself. Set an example, model the way, enable others to do the same, start with better recruitment processes, onboarding and performance reviews.

Good talent leave an organisation for many factors but it comes down to the core truths that many of us know. Consider these actions to retain your top talent, otherwise you may be counting how many people walk out the door.

Discuss their career development
Reduce red tape and bureaucracy
Review, recognise, reward, and refocus
Mobilise top talent to mix with other top talent
Stop shifting sands focus them on strategic priorities.
Find a project for the talent that inspires their passion
Conduct quarterly, midterm and annual performance reviews
Back off, empower accountability and stop telling them how to do their Jobs

Remember the secret of your success is determined by your daily agenda, what’s on your priority list?

Journey well
Matt Cartwright
Inspiring People, Inspiring Business, Inspiring Results
© Copyright 2008 -12

6 Needs of Staff and 10 Free Coaching Challenges

19/3/2012

6 Needs of Staff and 10 Free Coaching Challenges

I have yet to work on project or coach a workplace team where the underlying root cause of all problems hasn’t been related to people, process and roles and their responsibilities.

I have also observed the following to be true. That is, there are at least 6 basic human needs to help with people in projects or people going through workplace change. What I have found is that employees look for:

1.     certainty
2.     variety
3.     significance
4.     connection
5.     growth
6.     contribution

This isn’t always easy to find for the employee when you have limited power or influence. Think about it from the employee’s perspective.

As a manager or business leader there will be tests. It's not always about the mark you achieve its learning and applying the process. Lasting results requires continuous action. Habitual actions lead to be progress. Research also shows that people who have well-formed goals, written down are more likely to achieve those who do not. Up to 95% more likely.

Coaching Challenge for Frustrated and Fed Up workplace managers, supervisors or leaders.

1.     What might you be contributing to the workplace situation that causes others frustration?
2.     How are you helping the workplace team address the 6 basic human needs?
3.     Who in the workplace needs more of your assistance?
4.     How will you measure your contribution in assisting others in their success?
5.     To be more effective than you currently are at work what will you do more of?
6.     To be more effective than you currently are at work what will you do less of?

Okay, break it down into:

1.     What behaviours need to change?
2.     What attitudes need to change?
3.     What thoughts need to change?
4.     What processes need to change?

Imagine if you had on your own coach to help you or your team achieve greater success.

What might be the outcome?
What would that outcome give you?
What is holding you back from getting a coach?

Journey well,
Matt Cartwright
Inspiring People, Inspiring Business, Inspiring Results
© Copyright 2008 -12

Strengthen Resilience in Change and Get Inspiring Results

15/3/2012

Strengthen Resilience in Change and Get Inspiring Results

Have you noticed how many workplaces struggle with implementing change correctly. Unfortunately this impacts on the bottom line, customer service and workplace culture.

Dealing with resistance to change will be one of your greatest barriers and greatest successes.

Research repeatedly tells us that change initiatives fail due to poor planning and most of all poor change sponsorship.

Resilience in the knowledge worker economy is key to your change management success.

Our company provides both consultancy and faciliation to assist organisational and workplace change programs.

Lessons Learned

Some of the most common errors that I have found when consulting in transforming teams, services and an organisation are that they have:

Allowed too much complacency,
Failed to create a sufficiently powerful guiding coalition,
Underestimated the power of vision,
Under communicated the vision by a factor of 10x-100x,
Permitted obstacles to block the new vision,
Failed to create short-term wins,
Declared victory too soon,
Neglected to anchor changes firmly in the corporate culture.

Critical Success Factors in Change Management Process

Here are my thoughts on the critical success factors in managing your organisational change, trust me, so many people fail to use a process. At least start with a process by addressing these key issues:

Define the purpose
Prepare a business case and project plan
Define the role of the sponsor/s
Manage human resource and industrial relations issues
Establish consultation and communication processes
Conduct a stakeholder analysis
Acquire and develop change agent skills
Identify and develop plans for managing risks/threats
Develop evaluation strategies

Strengthen your individual and team resilience, through partnering with us...

We improve your change initiatives providing options to suit you including:

practical change management training
change management planning
change management implementation
change management coaching
change management tools, assessments, templates and resources
supporting teams in transition
assisting leadership transform the business.

Journey well,
Matt Cartwright
Inspiring People, Inspiring Business, Inspiring Results
© Copyright 2008 -12

Tackling the Elephant in the room in 10 quick easy steps

4/3/2012

Tackling the Elephant in the Room in 10 Quick Easy Steps

First principle, is not to shoot the elephant....that hurts and is unkind and morally wrong
Second principle, it takes courage and heavy lifting
Third principle, empower the group by holding them to account
Fourth principle, keep going

Okay its a common mistake not to address the elephant in the room.....I've been there and done that. I still see it being done by senior people who have influence and power.

I can't help myself, what a waste of time for everyone if we don't address it....Of course it needs to be done with sensitivity. Please share this with people who need help managing Elephants.

10 steps to help you... lets go!

Step 1. Ask permission to offer feedback.
Example: "Ok, I want to stop this meeting now and give you some input, I hope that is okay….I think the group would benefit from hearing my observations. . . is that OK?"

Step 2. Describe specifically what you’re observing
Example: "During the pre-prgram meetings I held with over half of you, the issue of some people not pulling their weight was mentioned by everyone as the most serious problem facing this team. We have been talking about team problems all morning and no one has mentioned this issue."

Step 3. Tell them about the direct impacts of their actions.
Example: "Since the issue of people not pulling their weight has not been mentioned, there's a good chance that these current discussions are not going to resolve your most serious team problem."

Step 4. Give the other person(s) an opportunity to explain.
Example: "You're telling me that this problem is not being discussed because it’s too sensitive and people are concerned about offending each other is that right?”

Step 5. Draw out ideas from the other person(s).
Example: "What do you think we could do to make it safe so that this issue can be discussed? What guidelines do we need to create to make it safe?”

Step 6. Offer specific suggestions for improvement only when necessary.
Example: "I think the guidelines you have come up with are excellent. I'd like to add a few ideas about how we can tackle this with sensitivity, they are only ideas."

Step 7. Summarise and express your support.
Example: "I want to thank you for being willing to tackle this tough issue, I appreciate your effort, thank you."

Step 8. Review.
Example: "I'm going to stop the meeting in about an hour and check with you to see if we are now tackling our real problems and if the guidelines we set are working."

Step 9. Reflect.
Reflect on the process of how you managed yourself, what did you learn about your faciliation, what might you change next time?

Step 10. Reward.
Give yourself some positive praise for tackling the Elephant in the room, that's your job as a facilitator, manager or leader.

Journey well,
Matt Cartwright
Inspiring People, Inspiring Business, Inspiring Results
© Copyright 2008 -12

Partnerships, Get Less Pain and More Pleasure

29/2/2012

Partnerships, Get Less Pain and More Pleasure

As you probably already know, the wrong partnership whether it is professional or personal can be far worse than no partnership at all.

There are a few important points to consider when starting a partnership. Firstly, you must decide if it is right for you, your business or project.

If the members of a partnership essentially do the same thing, it's almost inevitable that one will be hard-working and have more commitment than the other. Often, that party becomes resentful for the additional time they put in. I know this because I have experienced it for over two decades. It becomes a push/pull relationship and unfortunately this results in tensions.

The key is that the partnership must be something that you both need and couldn’t be done by yourself.

As we operate in the Brave New World paradigm, partnerships will need to be built on solid foundations to withstand the changing values in our workforce and global economics,

Our projects, our business and production will be outsourced to more competitive players eager to take on the big companies. Remember all big companies start out small. The smaller ones have fewer overheads, less risk, have lower to fall and are more flexible in structure.

Consider your real partnerships in your business. Consider the stakeholder partnerships, customer partnerships, supplier partnerships, training and industry partnerships.

Are these partnerships operating based on common values, principles, vision and goals?

Are they developed on the mutually beneficial relationships, is your success their success?

Healthy partnerships work hard to help the other party succeed. They give without hidden agendas.

In the project management space it’s challenging. New start up teams, tight scope, schedule, high risk, low cost and performance driven leaders expect on time, faster, better, cheaper.

Be warned this may work, but the wisdom to lead a project to build partnerships will increase your future sustainability and ability sustain outcomes. There is a big difference between output and outcome.

It’s simple, think of compounding interest, that’s what your projects should be like. Build them into projects where the outcomes of the partnership are long term, not short term.

Alliancing is another matter especially on large scale multibillion dollar projects. Whilst facilitating an alliance between a number of multinational construction companies it was clear that the fundamentals were not addressed at start up. However, the Program Manager did have the foresight to get me into address some of the issues. The reality is, when the tender is won, the work gets started. Then I'm hired because the fundamentals were not addressed correctly.

If however you do decide to form a partnership or alliance, give me a call and we can meet to discuss what might best work for your project or business.

One of the keys is to have a neutral party facilitate the partnership. Let's face it..... It is more risky when you don’t have someone helping you to get it right.

A major risk if you don’t partner, you will lose your staff quickly to your competitor, (your customers…your profit).

People jump ship due to pleasure or pain, I know which one I prefer in a partnership….

Give away time of the week!!! Generosity is one of my business virtues so here I go…

Free consultation questions I’m giving you. I only ask that your give me credit for my blogs and refer people back to it. Or just go hire me……learn what your competitors are finding out.

1.      What is it that motivates our business to partner?

2.      Whose benefit is it really for?

3.      What is the problem that needs to be addressed?

4.      What is the opportunity that can be harnessed?

5.      What can we offer them?

6.      What can they offer us?

7.      What are the foundations or cornerstone of a mutually beneficial partnership?

8.      What are the shared values, principles, goals and responsibilities?

9.      How will we define, monitor and measure our partnership success?

10.   What do we stand to lose if a partnership is not developed?

So if you need help thinking through a partnership, an alliance, a collaborative or a network, please contact me.

Journey well….partner,
Matt Cartwright
Inspiring People, Inspiring Business, Inspiring Results
© Copyright 2008 -12

Self-Awareness and Leadership: Have a look in the Mirror

23/2/2012

Self Awareness and Leadership: Have a look in the Mirror

I was with a long term client today. We had just finished a quick lunch. He was being head hunted by another firm which was what we were hoping would happen. His current company was sealing his potential.

I was thinking how fortunate he had been to be potentially moving to another more prestigious organization. He was keen to leave due to the CIO poor people skills.

A man got in the lift at the 25th floor. There I was confronted by a gruff man. It was the very person my client was talking about. One thing that struck me was the man had no idea what vibes he was giving off.

Whilst on his mobile phone, he was aggressive, using expletives and then went on criticizing his PA for his appointment scheduling. He finished the call, looked at my client (his colleague) and said, “God I work with some idiots in this place” enough said. Spooky…. I guess we had just spoken about him at lunch.

My observation was he had no idea what reactions he was giving off, nor did he seem to care.

So this is an easy blog today, because what I know about many leaders especially the ones that go and have 360 degree assessment, is that their drive, direction and self-belief is high, but their self-awareness is often low.

You guessed it. Many suffer from a lack of self-awareness. If this is you or you’re not sure, go start looking in the mirror more often. Go to the bathroom really look hard at yourself, and say “is the organistional leader that people aspire to, or even want to follow?”

Okay the narcissist or psychopath will always say “yes." So here is a gentle reminder if you or someone needs a top up.

Here it is for this week.

This task goes for anyone who has power or influence over people at work.

Self-awareness

If you're self-aware, you always know how you feel. As a result you know how you’re emotions, and your actions, and how they can affect the people around you. Being self-aware means having a clear picture of your strengths and weaknesses. And it means having humility.

So, what can you do to improve your self-awareness?

Keep a mental journal spend just a five minutes each day reviewing your thoughts about the day’s events, behaviour and attitude. Good chance, this will move you to a higher degree of self-awareness. Challenge do it repeatedly for 2 weeks 6 days week. Guaranteed harder than you think.

If you succeed do it for a month, then 3 months. By then you should start doing this habitually.

Slow down – ahhh what….. did you say? Yes, I know, I’m trying to as well. So much to do, so little time and so many opportunities. When you experience anger or other strong emotions, slow down to examine why. Remember, no matter what the situation, you can always choose how you react to it. Your emotions, your reactions, your leadership.

Mindfulness -

Mindfulness is a form of self-awareness training adapted from Buddhist mindfulness meditation. This is an area with a vast following because of its proven benefits. I try do it most mornings before I start my work. It has been described as a state of being in the present, accepting things for what they are. It was originally developed to assist with mood regulation and relapse prevention in depression and has been found to have considerable health benefits. I have been fortunate to be a mental health practitioner for over decade and personally meditated with Buddhist monks and nuns. This stuff is very powerful and gives greater insights into yourself, others and processes. You gain enormous clarity. Innovation compounds and problems are lessened.

With a good understanding of how we relate to others, we can adjust our behaviour so that we deal with issues positively. By understanding our weaknesses, we can learn how to manage them, and reach our goals despite them.

However, it's difficult to be objective when we think about ourselves. How others actually see us can be quite different from what we think they see. There are ways in which people can develop self-awareness on their own. However, coaching can be a better way of viewing your own actions and reactions objectively. I definitely give feedback on what I observe with my clients… firm but fair. After all, I aim to get superior performance from my clients.

Challenge:

Ask your team these questions:

How is my leadership/management style getting people onboard with their work?
How is my leadership/management style getting people offside?
What do I need to change about myself?

I know when I first did this exercise, it was strange, on the flip side, it was incredibly liberating.

Nothing like a good dose of feedback to make a few personal changes.

By the way, my client, sacked his boss, that is....resigned that afternoon. He took the promotion.

Journey well,
Matt Cartwright
Inspiring People, Inspiring Business, Inspiring Results
© Copyright 2008 -12

Team Management Work Preferences Profile in Brief

22/2/2012

Team Management Work Preferences Profile in Brief- Get you and your team assessed.

I just wanted to mention that I use and recommend the Team Managements Systems Preference Profile as a robust and accurate instrument to measure work preferences and ways of relating with others, how decisions are made, how things are organised and how pepole like to receive give and receive information.

The personal Team Management Profile (TMP) highlights an individual's major and two related areas of work preferences on the Margerison-McCann Team Management Wheel.

Here is an outline

Reporter-Adviser- Supporter, helper, tolerant; A collector of information; Dislikes being rushed; Knowledgeable; Flexible
Creator-Innovator - Imaginative; Future-oriented; Enjoys complexity; Creative; Likes research work
Explorer-Promoter - Persuader, "seller"; Likes varied, exciting, stimulating work; Easily bored; Influential and outgoing
Assessor-Developer - Analytical and objective; Developer of ideas; Enjoys prototype or project work; Experimenter
Thruster-Organizer - Organizes and implements; Quick to decide; Results-oriented; Sets up systems; Analytical
Concluder-Producer - Practical; Production-oriented; Likes schedules and plans; Pride in reproducing goods and services; Values effectiveness and efficiency
Controller-Inspector - Strong on control; Detail-oriented; Low need for people contact; An inspector of standards and procedures
Upholder-Maintainer - Conservative, loyal, supportive; Personal values important; Strong sense of right and wrong; Work motivation based on purpose

This tool is not like a Belbin, DISC, MBTI or an IQ test

The assessment only takes about 20-30 minutes and is done online.

It is a proven fast and accurate way of assessing and predicting work preferences. It benefits you by understanding your preferences, or lack of, to choose more suitable types of work, modify your own expectations or by sharing results across a team to get a better fit. People, perform better at what they prefer. The data can be used to get a group dialogue occurring and to make team changes.

TMS is used by over a million people in leading organisations (ANZ, Sony, Mobil Oil, American Express, BHP Billiton to name a few), Benefits include:

Translated into 20 languages
Applied by people from over 160 countries worldwide
Extensively researched, and research and translation programs are ongoing
A simple, practical and research-based system to:
Improve the productivity of any team
Identify and manage critical tasks
Generate engagement and harness the talent of the team
Create a common language that can cut through inherent differences

RELEVANT Developed with and for leaders and their teams
FOCUSED Helps individuals and teams to maximise their potential
PROVEN Twenty years ongoing validated research into what makes high-performing
teams
IMMEDIATE Can be understood and used by everyone straight away
MEMORABLE Sophisticated information presented in simple visual models
POSITIVE Non-threatening: all about strengths, mutual respect and constructive
relationships
FLEXIBLE For individuals, teams and organisations

After completing the assessment online, the client receives a 5000 word report outling preferences and areas that assist them to be more aware of their own communication styles and that of others. It often becomes the way of breaking down barriers and deepening emotional intelligence in a team.

For more information please email me. See the resources page.

Journey well.
Matt Cartwright
Inspiring People, Inspiring Business, Inspiring Results
© Copyright 2008 -12

Tips for dealing with the present, the past and the future

16/2/2012

Tips for Dealing with the Present, the Past and the Future

This simple but very powerful review process is used to shift your thinking, behaviour and attitudes.

I have counselled, coached and mentored with thousands of people. The most common theme, I find is people find reasons (excuses) to make changes until sometime in the future, and yes I have been guilty as well. Living in the Now or Present, needs to opened up and needs regular check-ins...

So....Be in the present: When you want to be happy and successful

Focus on what is right, meaningful or purposeful now
Use your purpose to respond to what is important now
The present is all that you have, make the the most of today, who knows if tomorrow exists, do you really know????
Work and live as if today were the last, confronting I know.... but it will shift your attention onto action, if it doesn't then you need to go back to the first point

Now...Learn from the past: When you want to make the present better than the past

Look at what happened in the past, don't over-analyse yourself or your business, its not an autopsy
Learn something valuable from it, ask what can I learn from that experience
Let go, it only really appears in memory, don't hold regrets, if you do, you're in victim mode
Do things differently in the present, take responsibility, be accountable, be authentic

And...Plan for the future: When you want to make the future better than the present

Visualize what a desired future would look like at work, home, social, family,etc get it clear
Make very specific plans to make it happen, it must be targeted, realistic and achievable
Put massive amounts of action into the plan for today, not tomorrow, remember, we are in the present
If you start procrastinating, you operate in the fear paradigm, its real in your head I know, but it may not be in reality, most fear is created in our lives and in our business. Trust me I've done it.....

Have you got it yet? Good.

The future is not tomorrow its here. Too many pepole stil haven't got that important nugget.

Enjoy this small coaching present and pass it on. Giving is a great way to improve business and the world we live in.

Journey well,
Matt Cartwright
Inspiring People, Inspiring Business, Inspiring Results
© Copyright 2008 -12

Enlarge your leadership to a higher level…..

16/2/2012

Enlarge your leadership to a higher level…..

Leadership…..so much is written about it, so much is reported about it, so many courses offered about it, so many types of 360 degree assessments, so many training courses, so many leaders and still a lack of workplace followers. Well leaders keep us in and out business, but that is not the point. We are all learners and leaders in our own right. We are not perfect and we make mistakes, some learn better from them.

Ask yourself this. Is the leader of your organisation, the leader you love to follow?
or,
If you are the Leader. Is your organisation following your vision passionately?

This week is a reminder, don’t be complacent in your leadership development, we never stop learning to be better leaders. This week it’s about the enlarging leader.

Just a few thoughts....one of my best leaders that come to mind was a very quiet woman who was psychologist by background. She never really managed me, she let me manage myself, it frustrated the hell out of me big time…until I got used to it. My career blossomed and I thank her for that. She was a catalyst in reversing my leadership thinking.

My mother, another great leader, used to work in a bookshop and found this tiny little book, it has many pearls of wisdom in it. Here are just a few nuggets from John C. Maxwell Book, Equipping 101, What every Leader Needs to Know.

How to become an Enlarger

Believe in others first before they believe in you
Serve others before they serve you
Add value to others before they add value to you.

Enlarge your Leadership behaviours, attitudes and skills by

Valuing the team members
Valuing what team members value
Adding value to the team members
Making yourself more valuable

Our company provides a range services to leaders, new leaders and emerging leaders. See our website for more information. Or, you could start by having me coach you. Find out how through the resources link or contact page.

Journey well,
Matt Cartwright
Inspiring People, Inspiring Business, Inspiring Results
© Copyright 2008 -12