Farrar's Faucet

Not your average consultants!

noreply@blogger.com (David Farrar) — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 18:15:00 +0000

Every day we come to work energized for two simple reasons:

* We love what we do

* We love helping our clients improve what matters most to their businesses

We run a leadership development and change management consultancy. That means we help leaders who are changing their business and changing themselves.

Our clients are business owners and senior executives who want to address people issues in their organizations and lead their businesses with integrity. Our work includes speaking, training, coaching and good old-fashioned, roll up your sleeves consulting. We combine the skills of a trained psychologist with pratical expertise in how people really behave in organizations and across cultures.

Many of our clients have experienced some kind of pain, change or challenge in the people side of their business, but not necessarily. Some just want to improve the performance of a management team, build better relationships with their customers or provide professional development for their senior executives.

All of our solutions are based on our deep understanding of the people side of business.

We are down to earth consultants. We measure our success by improving the four key drivers of our clients’ success: Customer Satisfaction, Employee Well-Being, Productivity and Profitability.

Really.

We are very good.

We are not your average consultants.

The King's Speech

noreply@blogger.com (David Farrar) — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 00:57:00 +0000

We have just seen "The King's Speech", a movie about George VI and an Australian speech therapist, the man who helps him find his confidence and ability to rally the English during the second world war.

It's a great drama about the royal family and their crisis as Edward VIII abdicated and the shy Prince Albert found himself the leader of what the film describes as "a quarter of the world's population."

Here's what I took away from the movie: If you are having difficulties dealing with the demands of your position you can do a lot worse than getting yourself an Australian coach!

Ok, that's a little tongue-in-cheek and a more than a little self-serving, but what the heck.

Geoffrey Rush captures the Australian archetype really well. Faced with a prince and heir apparent to the British crown he nevertheless insists he's Lionel, and the prince will go by Bertie, just as he does with his close friends and family.

When Prince Albert argues about the course of the therapy Lionel insists "my castle, my rules." And when Prince Albert and the future Queen Elizabeth, (The current Queen Elizabeth's mother), doubt Lionel's effectiveness he lets his results recorded on a gramophone record speak for themselves.

Despite the professional chasm between the worlds the two individuals inhabit they come together as equals in the coaching process. Lionel and Bertie struggle through ups and downs together, but one thing the future king never has to doubt is that Lionel is definitely on his side.

The speech therapist's one mis-step in the movie comes when he oversteps the boundaries of their relationship and presumes to give advice on the throne and how to run the kingdom.

I work with partners in big city law firms, CEOs, senior executives and very successful entrepreneurs: I know my stuff, but I sincerely hope they never think I believe I can run their business better than they can!

I really liked the Lionel Logue character. I almost wish every management consultant and coach had to watch this film and critically compare their practice with the trusted Lionel Logue…I wonder how many would fall short.

Life lessons from a boxer's life

noreply@blogger.com (David Farrar) — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 01:09:00 +0000

Last night we went to a boxing gym to support a mate of ours in his first big bout. Genevieve didn’t think she would enjoy it, but she got caught up in the moment. I didn’t expect to still be interested, and yet I got totally absorbed in all the matches and couldn’t wait for Andy’s turn in the ring. When I was younger my father taught me how to box, and I was surprised how much of it came back to me.

My Dad boxed in the British Army. I guess that would be back in the late 1940’s and after. He was a child of the depression, and I think he had a tough childhood. I think fathers take their children to sports, (or science fairs, or libraries or whatever), because they want to pass some life lessons on to their children and it’s often hard to put those lessons into words. A friend of mine recently showed me a list of life lessons learned from playing ice hockey. I suspect the parents who are taking their children along to hockey, (or whatever), want them to learn those lessons, even if they can’t articulate what they are or expect their children to listen to them if they tried.

My father has a million opinions on life, but he could never get them across to me in words in a way that would engage me to listen. (Probably as much my fault as his.) However, through boxing as a young kid and early teenager I absorbed a lot of what he thought was important.

Appearances can be deceptive. My Dad is a little guy. He's 4'11". That's him in the photo with Mum and I on a recent trip. I don't think size ever stopped him from doing any thing. All my life he has always been faster and feistier than me. Never underestimate anyone and always look out for the little guy who is hungrier than you. No matter your size never be afraid to step in to the ring, and never let anything hold you back from doing what you want to do.

Ok…that may be more than one lesson.

Keep your head down and hands up. Sport is supposed to be fun, but anything worthwhile is usually hard work as well. Once you start you need to focus, and keep your gloves up and ready for what’s next. No looking up, looking around, daydreaming or dozing. Work hard, play hard.

And while you’re at it…

Turn up for training. You might think you just get into a ring and belt the heck out of the other guy. You’d be wrong. There’s an art and a science to boxing well. You need to practice enough that it comes naturally, and you need to study enough that you get the form and execution right. You can’t do that if you don’t turn up because you have a case of the sniffles, or you had a late night, or it’s cold out. I tried all those: they didn’t work. My Dad was the original “just do it” man long before Nike’s ad campaign.

Get on the front foot. Unless you really, really need to back off and regroup, the best strategy is always to take the game to the opposition. Sometimes you can be tempted to ignore a problem and hope it will go away. Many people have a problem with procrastination, and sometimes that includes me, but no-one ever got into a ring and won by hiding in the corner. You have to tackle life head on.

And speaking of corners.

You need good people in your corner. After you’ve done a few rounds with your personal demons everybody needs to get back into their corner for a while and take a rest. When that happens you need supporters. Don’t piss off your mates, don’t look down on people whose role is different from yours, and never forget you don’t get anywhere without a lot of help from a lot of people. When someone has just watched you go toe to toe with your opposition and they have good advice…take it.

Once you’re in the ring you’re all alone. Make sure you’ve prepared, and believe in yourself, because once the rumpus starts you have to rely on yourself. I think as a kid boxing built tremendous self-confidence in me. Some people think boxing does that because it makes you a better fighter, like you go around thinking “I could take him”, and “I could beat him up”. That isn’t it at all. It builds confidence because you develop self-reliance. It’s just you and your opponent and a pair of gloves and a roped in ring. You can’t call for your mummy and you can’t wait for anyone else to help you out. If it’s going to happen it’s going to happen because of you.

Few are fooled by fancy footwork. I’ve worked with some people who have amazing moves. When you try to hold them accountable for something or plan something solid for the future they have a dozen excuses for why it didn’t get done, it’s not their fault and anyway, “look at this great shiny object I have here”. Some people think they can avoid you looking at their results by distracting you with their moves, (or their fancy marketing, “blue sky plans”, smart clothes or latest electronic gadgets). At the end of the bout, results count.

You’re only as good as your opposition. Boxers are matched up according to weight and experience. If you’re good, you can expect your opponents are going to get better, just as you will by being matched up with them. If it’s all too easy chances are you’ve rigged the system somehow and you’re not progressing. Seek out worthy opponents that stretch you.

You don’t win them all. Sooner or later you’ll be counted out of a match by a technical knock out, (like a cut lip, bloodied eye or other injury that prevents you from going on), or perhaps you’ll get beaten by someone bigger, meaner and faster than you who scores more points on you. Maybe one time you’ll miss a move and cop a blow to the head and need to get taken out of the fight. Maybe you actually get knocked out. Tough! Life happens. It’s not about the match you’ve lost, it’s about whether or not you come back. Suck it up and train for the next time.

While you’re at it.

Be magnanimous in victory. When you do win remember what we said about only being as good as your opponent. Be gracious, be civil, be a good sport. We always had to stand together at the end of every fight, and if you lost you congratulated the other. Thank him for a good fight. Hold the ropes open for the loser, and let him leave the ring with dignity. There’s always plenty of time to celebrate later.

And finally, don't be afraid to show your emotions. In the picture my parents are holding hands. They've held each other's hands when they go out walking all their lives. Whether I won or lost, did well or did poorly, I could always tell what my father thought of my efforts. He lives life large and encouraged me to do the same.

Our friend Andy won his bout, was a great sport, and afterward we all went out for a few drinks and celebrations. Well done. He got knocked around a bit but I’m sure he enjoyed it.

I’m fifty now, and I can’t even imagine what it would be like to get into a boxing ring at my age. I equally can’t remember my father ever sitting down and trying to give me life lessons. My Dad’s still around, in his 80’s, just as feisty and opinionated as he ever was. I believe he still thinks of himself as a boxer, although he's obviously thinking of how he lived his life, not his ability to get back in a ring. I have never had a very close relationship with my father. Perhaps that was just the way of his generation. Maybe, even though I would have resisted it furiously, just maybe, some of those lessons that got him through his life rubbed off on me. Maybe that’s what he wanted all along.

Disagreeing without being disagreeable

noreply@blogger.com (David Farrar) — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 21:27:00 +0000

We are currently working on three projects that involve significantly changing workplace cultures. The projects are proceeding at different speeds, and I think it’s largely due to the ability of the staff to disagree without being disagreeable.

I’m not discounting the technology and infrastructure required to make change. You need a certain level of each…things like email systems, time for group meetings, and appropriate pay and incentive structures. All things being equal these provide the background for the human factors of change: the ability of people to understand the need for change and make it happen.

Workplaces are full of friction. There are disagreements about accountabilities, customer requirements, the rate of change…the need for change! Because workplaces are full of people they are also often full of the things people disagree about when they’re not at work: religion, politics, sport, relationships and so on.

Things go more slowly when more time that is spent disagreeing on a action before taking action. Things go less effectively when disagreeing gets in the way of choosing a right course of action. Disagreements about non-work issues can spill over and get into the way of work. Being able to disagree in an agreeable, effective way is central to being able to manage work and change.

In every change project we undertake we first establish a set of ground rules for how people should treat each other. Organizations don’t have to use our ground rules, but if they don’t have anything better we think they should at least have something like these. We call them the Basic Interpersonal Skills:

1. Treat everyone as you want to be treated
•    With dignity
•    And respect
2. Maintain and enhance other people’s well-being
•    Be specific,
•    Be sincere
3. Always make an effort to make things better
•    Be firm with the facts, and fair with the people
•    Ask for help and engage other people to bring their time, talent and trust

I have written about the Basic Interpersonal Skills before, and you can see some of the context for the skills here.

In the workplaces where change is moving quickest the leaders have a vision of the future and have established a set of values with all the staff that determine common standards of behavior along the way. One organization calls theirs “The Golden Rules Of [workplace X]”, and they had mouse pads and other supporting materials put up so everybody knew the rules. Another organization called theirs “Our Mission, Vision and Guiding Principles”.

In most places the behavior standards look a lot like my Basic Interpersonal Skills, and that’s because there are good, frequently repeated studies showing the power of the three skills.

The Basic Interpersonal Skills enable people to disagree without being disagreeable. In the workplace it is an implicit condition of everyone’s employment contract that they speak up when they see opportunities for things to be changed for the better, and don’t feel they have to keep quiet when they see something they feel is wrong. The Basic Interpersonal Skills make it safer for people to speak and and more effective when they do.

In the organization where the changes are occurring slowest we are going to work with the leaders and staff to have them come up with behavior guidelines and bottom line values. We think this will make their workplace a better place to work, and help them with the changes and improvements they want to make.

Workplaces where the Basic Interpersonal Skills are taken for granted provide an environment where that can happen.

Earning the Attention of a Prehistoric Brain

noreply@blogger.com (David Farrar) — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 22:44:00 +0000

One of my colleagues recently created a blog posting with this title. You can see Terri's article here. Her point, from a trainer's perspective, is that brains are wired to ignore the repetitive and regular and pay attention to the unexpected and irregular.

Psychologists call ignoring the background sensations habituation, and paying attention to what is new and different vigilance. Our brains are quite primitive this way…they work much the way a dinosaur's brain worked.

How does knowing this help a principled leader?

I'm currently working with a client where we are half way through an 18 month culture change project across their organization. One of the ways we are making the culture change stick is to use habituation and vigilance to our advantage.

When we first introduced the change we used as many different communication channels as we could. We also had as many different customizations as possible for each of the audiences. Each time the managers and staff saw the themes from the change process pop up in a memo, staff meeting or handout they thought "Ah, here's that thing again." With every twist in the communication they looked at the changes and thought about what it meant for them.

Once the change was successfully introduced we started finding a common language and reinforcing a common mindset among the staff by repeating the same materials. Over time the managers and staff no longer thought of what we were doing as "change", it just became "the way we do things around here".

We got the staff and managers to be vigilant about the changes coming their way, and habituated to the idea that change is natural.

Terri's article is a great look at the concept for improving training outcomes. I also use the concept with my clients as one of the ways to help them make meaningful changes stick.

(You can also make people hyper-vigilant. That's when the changes and novelty are coming so quickly, and the anxiety level is raised so high that people pay too much attention to paying attention, and become frozen into inaction).

There are principles that underlie each of the states of vigilance, habituation and hyper-vigilance.

When we work with someone responsible for making a change initiative work we help them answer the question: "When do I need to be novel and different with this message, when do I need to make sure it's more of the same, and when is enough, enough?"

One tip to make your New Year resolutions achievable.

noreply@blogger.com (David Farrar) — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 04:49:00 +0000

Hopefully you are celebrating the successful achievement of your 2010 goals. And hopefully you are looking forward to setting new goals for yourself and maybe your department, organization or community. You have probably heard it's a good idea to write them down and tell other people about them.

Most people think it is about record keeping. Good record keeping is no small thing in itself when it comes to September and you are trying to remember what you promised to do. However, that is not the main reason why writing a resolution down and telling other people about it makes it more achievable.

It's nothing "new age" or anything mystical about the universe. It's a simple insight we have into the psychology of how our minds work. There is indeed a power to writing things down and telling others: it's the psychological power of cognitive dissonance.

Consider two statements: "I am a good person" and "I tell the truth". Most of us would believe both of these to be true about ourselves. Now say you write down your resolution and you achieve it. Ta dah! You are a good person and you tell the truth.

However, let's say you wrote down your resolution and you are maybe not going to achieve it. Cognitive dissonance kicks in. Perhaps "I am a good person" and yet "I don't tell the truth". This is unlikely and your mind rejects it. Instead, your conscious and subconscious mind works on the the idea that "I am a good person" and "I tell the truth" therefore … "I should/I must achieve my resolution".

The act of writing down your resolution means you have taken more effort with your resolution and the harder is it for your mind to think you went to that effort, you're a good person but you didn't tell the truth.

The power of cognitive dissonance says the more effort you put into writing down your resolution the more your unconscious will motivate you to make it true. Buy an expensive note book, use fancy calligraphy and give a copy to all your friends.

Of course, you could argue that telling other people just means you will get shamed into having to complete your resolution, but it is really the same thing. If you are a good person and you tell the truth and you look like you are not going to achieve your resolution…either you have to put a lot of mental and social effort into explaining to yourself and others why…or you just put extra effort into achieving the resolution!

If you are a manager or leader get the people you work with to write down their resolutions, goals and promises for the coming year. Join them, and be the first one prepared to share your resolutions publicly. Watch how the more effort is put into writing down the resolution, and the more publicly it is shared, the harder people will work at all levels to make it come true.

Cognitive dissonance was one of the first things I learned as a psychologist about counseling people and I was stunned by how well it works in almost every case.

01 01 11

noreply@blogger.com (David Farrar) — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 23:11:00 +0000

This is a link to our Facebook page, with a music clip to start off the new year.

The music is from M People, the song is “Search For The Hero Inside Yourself” and “Genessis8” has put up some inspiring words and pictures to go with the uplifting lyrics.

This came out in the 80’s when I was at University. It was like the Rocky anthem for non-Americans of my generation. We sung it at parties and I’ve seen it performed live at sports arenas with tens of thousands of fans singing along.

This morning I did the Polar Dash, a three mile run in 3F/-16C temperatures. I wore two pairs of pants, a shirt, a hoodie, two jackets and two pairs of gloves. Genevieve took this photo of me with the “Dead End” sign disappearing into the distance. I like the symbolism of that.

To keep me going through the run I listened to some of my favorite music, including the clip on the Facebook page. I hope you enjoy the music, and have a fabulous start to your New Year.

What Five Questions Help Me Chose An Executive Coach?

noreply@blogger.com (David Farrar) — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 19:45:00 +0000

Choosing a good coach is likely to be the best thing you could do for your professional development because the return on good coaching is higher than for any comparable form of development.

Coaching used to be just for boardroom executives, but now senior executives, family business owners and many mid-level managers wanting to develop an edge on their peers are turning to an external coach. As the business of coaching business leaders grows larger each year it is becoming more important to chose wisely from the many coaches marketing their services.

The greater number of coaches available makes it more difficult to find a truly exceptional coach. A great coach will provide returns worth many times the investment of time and money. The following questions cover the range of issues needed to establish a good coaching relationship, and are designed to help you make a smart choice.

1: What are my goals?

Decide if you are looking to achieve personal or business goals. Some “life coaches” specialize in personal goals, while many executive coaches focus on business and commercial objectives. You can talk through with the coach whether you are looking to overcome a current challenge, find professional growth, compensate for a perceived weakness or identify ways to capitalize on your strengths. Do you need help identifying goals? This can be a good place to start with the potential coach.

2: What standards and qualifications does the coach have?

Many people say they have had “coaching training” when they are really a speaker, trainer or consultant. Unfortunately, there are many short courses certifying people who claim to be coaches after a few days or weeks of training. Most of these courses do not require either training in psychology or executive experience.

One way to identify a credible professional is to look for membership of the International Coach Federation, the Worldwide Association of Business Coaches, American Psychological Society or a similar professional body in your area. These organizations provide certification for members and require adherence to strict ethical and professional practices.

3: Does the coach have common sense, and practical business experience?

Find out what relevant pre-coaching background and experiences the coach has that you can relate to. Knowing what they did before they became a coach will help you determine if you will feel comfortable that you can discuss your issues freely with a coach who will be supportive and understanding.

An indication that the coach will have practical business sense is their experience as an executive. Coaching is a special relationship that relies heavily on trust. Perspective and feedback are part of the coach’s role, so you need to feel their judgment is sound and you can value their perspective on your business issues.

4: Do we have rapport?

Coaching is a very personal interaction. Not every coach will be right for you, even if their qualifications, experience and credentials look ideal. Make sure the “chemistry” is right so you have the basis for a lasting relationship.

5: What are the deliverables?

A credible coach should be able to explain a process that shows they have a high concern for both task issues and people issues. A typical process will involve a warm up, an assessment of your situation, focused action planning, and opportunities for feedback, self-learning and teachable moments as you follow through on your development.

The personal benefits of good coaching are threefold:

1. Focus on achieving what matters most to you and your organization

2. Growth toward personal and organizational goals

3. Relationships to provide mutual support, resources and opportunities

And if you wonder about the “hard” return on investment, I’ll leave the last word to an old article from Fortune magazine, (19^th Feb, 2001, Executive Coaching - With Returns a CFO Could Love): (you can do the math to get the current value)

“Asked for a conservative estimate of the monetary payoff from the coaching they got, managers described an average return of more than $100,000, or about six times what the coaching had cost their companies."

You can make a difference in the life of a homeless person

noreply@blogger.com (David Farrar) — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 04:09:00 +0000

This coming Saturday 13th November I will be donating my time to MC a charity event for At Home Group.

Let me quote from the press release:

‘“On a Monday I got hired. I rejoiced then panicked! I didn’t have the required clothes or bus fare. I would have to turn the job down,” said Sarah Brown, Twin Cities resident. “Being homeless and unemployed for over a year, I just sobbed – my chance to get my kids a home again was gone.”

“Tuesday, I found At Home Group. Everything changed. By Wednesday, Kathy Olson, At Home Group director, showed up with everything! I started work Wednesday afternoon. She probably saved our lives!” Brown said. “Now, I want to help others like myself.”

On November 13, At Home Group clients like Sarah are teaming up to help raise funds for those who are still homeless at the Restoring Hope Gala.

Here are the event details:

Restoring Hope Gala
First Unitarian Society
900 Mount Curve Avenue
(One block behind the Walker Art Center)
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55403
5:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Formal event tickets: $50 individual/$400 table of eight/$500 table of ten
Reservations online at www.athomegroup.org or call 612.235.0154

Kathy Olson says "Homeless clients like Brown prove they are homeless not helpless. We buy trade tools, uniforms, and bus fare so clients can go to work and afford housing again. Clients are able to return to jobs as carpenters, beauticians, chefs, waiters, and welders. We are the only organization, we know of, in Minnesota that does this type of work as its sole mission. Before clients even leave my office, they ask how they can help others in their predicament. The Gala is giving them that opportunity.”

This is a great organization that I literally ran into while acting as a charity auctioneer at another function. I really like what they do and the difference they make in people's lives by providing opportunities with dignity. I love that the clients are able to share their stories and be part of giving it forward to the next group of people in need.

At Home Group is a nonprofit organization committed to eradicating homelessness in Minnesota by facilitating individuals becoming employed, self-sufficient and financially independent.

If you can come please take this opportunity. Get a jump on this year’s season of giving and help provide permanent solutions to homelessness for displaced workers. Be someone’s hero, change a life, save a family, and strengthen your community. Make your reservation today!

Because 26.3 would be crazy!

noreply@blogger.com (David Farrar) — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 16:24:00 +0000

This weekend I ran my 10th or 11th marathon, the third since my open heart surgery last year. (If you don't know how I came to be on the operating table you can see the story here.)

The distance you run in a marathon is 26.2 miles, or around 42 kilometers. That's once around the Twin Cities from the Metrodome to the Cathedral via Nokomis and the Mississippi.

(For my Australian friends, that's the equivalent of from Flinders St to Frankston)

It's a long way!

Running has helped me with my health and fitness, and I think it keeps me sane. It also helps me with my clients. When I start the run I know that, barring unforeseen or extreme circumstances, I'm going to finish strong. That's how I work with my clients: when we start together they know that, all things being equal, we're going to get over the finish line and it's going to be good.

It's called being "consciously competent".

When I started running I was all over the place. Sometimes I would put on the wrong socks and get a blister. Sometimes I would have the wrong shoes. Sometimes I would have a great run but because I didn't know what made it great I would be surprised when my next run was terrible.

Over time I became better. As I became better I started to understand how I was becoming better. I started "incompetent", I became "unconsciously competent" and eventually I've ended up "consciously competent".

I was quite deliberate above when I said I know I'm going to finish barring "unforeseen or extreme circumstances". I purposefully plan my run so that if I start to dehydrate I know where I can get water, if I run out of energy I know what I can eat, and if I fall and break a finger, (like a friend of mine did), I know how to get medical aid and keep going.

A lot of my clients are really good at what they do but sometimes they're "unconsciously competent". By getting them to be more self-aware and more planful about what they do they become better able to repeat their successes, better able to handle set backs, and more confident about their ability to take risks…like setting out on a 26.2 mile run and knowing they'll be able to finish well.

Once you're consciously competent you just go out and get it done. You don't have to prove anything to anyone. And 26.2 is enough, because 26.3 would be crazy!

The Jennifer Easton Community Spirit Awards

noreply@blogger.com (David Farrar) — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 21:12:00 +0000

I am always on the look out for examples of the Basic Interpersonal Skills in action. Finding a cross-cultural example is even better, so I was very pleased by the Native American award ceremony we went to last night.

It was put on by First People’s Fund and sponsored by a wide range of philanthropic associations including a friend of ours through the Howe Family Foundation, (thank you Carol for the invite). Please support their work where you can.

Here are the Basic Interpersonal Skills in a nutshell:

1. Treat everyone as you want to be treated
•    With dignity
•    And respect
2. Maintain and enhance other people’s well-being
•    Be specific,
•    Be sincere
3. Always make an effort to make things better
•    Be firm with the facts, and fair with the people
•    Ask for help and engage other people to bring their time, talent and trust

Last night was at the Stepping Stone Theatre in Saint Paul, and the ceremonies were here for the first time after being presented in past years in various cities throughout the US. The ceremony honors Native American culture bearers: people whose work gives back to their communities and represents the spirit and culture of their people.

Now I have been lucky enough to see indigenous people performing in lots of places around the world, and last night was different. I’ve seen Australian aborigines in the Northern Territory, Kecak singers in Indonesia, Japanese Odori, Ndebele and Zulu performances in Africa and even Morris dancing in England. Sometimes the ceremonies and performances are excellent, but too often they are either semi-cheesy shows aimed at tourists, or occasionally an exclusive privilege few outsiders get to share.

Last night was very inclusive. The whole aim of the awards and the performances was to showcase Native Americans preserving their heritage and passing it forward. Some people had brought along extravagant costumes, others looked as if they had just stepped off the street. In each case the award was for a person who had become part of their wider community by generously sharing their skills and culture.

Lots of award ceremonies honor the recipient as an individual. Here the emphasis was on their contributions to others, the family and tribe they were part of, and how they exemplified the “spirit of community”. In each case the vignettes of the person illustrated their work, and I kept thinking of the Basic Interpersonal Skills. What made these people exceptional was not only their unique culture, but how they worked to pass their culture on to others. They treated everyone with dignity and respect, they were focused on improving the well-being of everyone in their community, and they always made an effort to make things better.

In fact, if you looked at the last skill closely and listened to the stories of the recipients’ social justice activities you frequently heard how they were firm with facts and fair with people, and made significant efforts to engage others in their work rather than trying to do it all alone.

The Basic Interpersonal Skills really are basic, and universal as well. I thought as I watched how much nicer the world would be if we could all find a spirit of community, and want to be recognized not for what we have, but for what we give.

Update on the Tour De France...

noreply@blogger.com (David Farrar) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 23:34:00 +0000

It's Tour De France time. I love cycling. A year ago I wrote an article on the tour and how success in professional cycling and success in business is very similar. The article is just as relevant today, so here it is again...

This isn’t a post just for cycling lovers. As you can see on the left, I enjoy getting out on two wheels whenever I can. However, I’ve just spent three weeks watching the biggest international event in professional cycling, and I have some thoughts on what I saw and how it relates to the world of business. Here are my (slightly) random thoughts.

It’s about teamwork. The cyclists cover thousands of miles across France, and at the end of the race there can only be one winner. However, it’s impossible to imagine anyone being successful over such a long trial without the backing of their team. Wheels need to be changed; drinks need to be brought up. Sometimes a rider sacrifices their own bike to pass it to another member of their team whose bike has crashed and who has a better chance of winning. If you can’t maintain the support of your team you will never win.

Respect differences. The Tour De France is a race for all types. Some of the racers are lean little whippets who excel at sprinting away on the flat. Some cyclists are powerhouses of muscle who get away from the pack on the long hills. Each team has a balance of people who are best at different things, and they had better understand and respect each other for their different contributions.

The journey is the prize. If you don’t make one of the top three placings or win a special jersey for King of the Mountain or similar the financial rewards aren’t that great for three weeks spent pedaling around 3,500 kilometers, (or more than 2,000 miles). I read that the prize for the fourth place winner is 70,000 Euros, (about $US100,000), and that tails down to the rider that finishes 19th earning just 1,000 Euros. Even the winner, Alberto Contador, isn’t that well rewarded. He gets 450,000 Euros, but that has to go toward paying for the team, (and there are nine riders in a team), the support vehicles, the team managers and cooks and buses and everything else. I’m not saying the ones at the top don’t get enough in support and endorsements to make it worthwhile. I do think it’s not the money that motivates the average participant. You can bet they “get in the flow” when they get on their bike, and they get a reward from what they do that isn’t just financial.

Team results? Team rewards. Even if you only want to maximize the performance of the best rider, you had still better make sure you reward the whole team for their effort. We know that there can only be one winner, and you would think the way to ensure that everyone puts in their best effort is to focus on rewarding individual achievement. Instead, the teams and the organizers ensure there are prizes, jerseys and accolades enough to reward everyone. Not every rider can be number one. When you have to get the best out of more than a hundred cyclists you have to ensure that everyone has a stake in making it a great race.

Knocked over? Get up again. Every day someone “hits the wall” and falls behind, or literally hits a wall or something else and falls over. Every day they get up and start over again. When I was a kid I had tremendous resilience. If I fell over I’d just dust myself off, get a band aid or two and carry on. As we get older we lose that, and yet here are people riding with broken collar bones, bruises, cuts and all sorts of damage. Most of what we think hurts us isn’t really that bad, and if we just get back on our bikes we are surprised by how far we can go.

The link to business? I love the Tour De France. There’s something wonderful about watching athletes of the highest caliber competing in any sport. I think that if any of these cyclists have the inclination to participate in business they have the temperament to do pretty well.

Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever ...

noreply@blogger.com (David Farrar) — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 05:30:00 +0000

I have written before about the Basic Interpersonal Skills. The third one is "Always make the effort to make things better".

If you put the emphasis on the word "always" you can think of another way of saying this. Never give up.

Never give up on your friends, never give up on your commitments, never give up and accept defeat before the game is over.

I tuned into the World Cup today expecting to see an example of this from my beloved Socceroos. It was highly unlikely they would go through to the next round, but it was possible if they managed to win against Serbia, and the goal difference worked out OK in the Germany v Ghana match.

Australia played their hearts out and secured a close fought win. Unfortunately for us it wasn't enough to grab a place in the final sixteen.

On the next screen at our local watering hole we could see history in the making at the Wimbledon Tennis tournament. I have seen matches go to 8/6 in the final set, 9/7, 10/8 and even 11 and 12 all before being finalized. Izner vs Mahut was still going at 59 all in the final set before bad light called off play for the evening.

Whatever happens in the game I have new example and a new rephrasing of my third Basic Interpersonal Skill.

Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever give up!

The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Organization

noreply@blogger.com (David Farrar) — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 16:58:00 +0000

Peter Drucker, King of management gurus, has five essential questions for every organization. This book includes content from five of today’s thought leaders, to supplement Drucker's questions and bring them up to date.

You can use this book as a tool for self-assessment. In the words of one reviewer "...answering these five questions will fundamentally change the way you work, helping you lead your organization to an exceptional level of performance."

Peter Drucker’s five questions are:

What is our Mission? with Jim Collins

Who is our Customer? with Phil Kotler

What does the Customer Value? with Jim Kouzes

What are our Results? with Judith Rodin

What is our Plan? with V.Kasturi Rangan

I have recently worked with a couple of organizations who have looked at themselves closely in terms of the five questions and who are entering the new decade with a completely reshaped vision of themselves.

One large non-profit had to ask the hard question: Who are we here to serve? Their customers were not only the members of society served by their community impact delivery, but also the donors, volunteers and others who had to be engaged by the organization's mission. In these difficult times this non-profit is providing real leadership on the new "business as usual" and managing to maintain their donor and volunteer base.

Another client is a project team leading a significant ERP implementation across a 3,000 employee organization. Over the last six months or so they have been looking very carefully at what their (internal) customers value, and the results they are really there to deliver. As a result their "go-lives" are customer focused and the departments they work with are partners in ensuring everything goes smoothly.

The five questions could be obvious, (see my Monty Python article), but the depth of analysis enables this book to be a real breakthrough framework for many.

Do you want to be a high performing team?

noreply@blogger.com (David Farrar) — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 15:31:00 +0000

When I was younger I heard a Monty Python sketch that reminds me of many leadership and management articles.

I make sure my articles aren’t like the sketch, and here’s the difference…

The sketch was on a Monty Python record I bought, and I think it was called “Do you want to play the piccolo?” There are two breathlessly excited announcers telling the audience that in this week’s show they will learn how to play the piccolo. “Really?” says the first announcer. “Yes” the second one confidently asserts.

“Here we go. First you blow in one end, then you move your fingers up and down on the outside”. “Wow, brilliant” the first announcer responds. Then they excitedly tell you how to solve the problem of world hunger, (“Go to school and become really brainy. Then invent a marvelous new way of growing food and distribute it to all the world’s poor”), followed by how to win a Noble prize, cure cancer and live happily ever after.

A lot of leadership articles are the same. They repeat the banal and obvious without giving you any further information on how to actually do or recognize the things they write about. Pretty useless. Which brings me back to the title of this article, “Do you want to be a high performing team?”. I have seen many articles on high performance and they repeat the same things: have a vision, communicate values, set goals and so on. However, they don’t give you much information on what kind of vision works, or how to recognize the right kinds of values when you see them.

Here is my quick list of high performing team characteristics. Next to each one I have put a few adjectives that take them a little beyond Monty Python thinking. I have used these with teams who aspire to be high performing and they quickly realize whether or not what they are doing is enough.

Vision: An articulated and inspirational vision and mission.
Values: Clearly articulated in a way that ethically guides discretionary behavior
Goals: Aggressive, concrete, measurable targets that raise expectations and minimize ambiguity.
Structure: Flat and nimble
Performance Management: Regularly monitored with rapid, transparent feedback.
Recognition: Visible, quick and clear.
Talent: A mindset that expects and attracts the best and enlists their support
Community: Connected in a deep intimate way that demonstrates a desire to achieve stakeholder success.

In most cases my adjectives following each one help the team see the standard they have to achieve. Do they have a vision that is articulated to each employee and inspirational? Do the team’s values guide behavior when the rules aren’t clear? Are the goals they set aggressive, concrete, and measurable in a way that raises expectations and minimizes ambiguity? You get the idea.

When I put the eight criteria to most teams who aspire to be high performing they usually see opportunities for improvement. As a simple checklist it gets them back on the road to a realistic appraisal of their team development and away from Monty Pythonesque surrealism.

Working overseas for Upsher Smith

noreply@blogger.com (David Farrar) — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 03:11:00 +0000

Presented this afternoon with Genevieve at Upsher-Smith Laboratories in Maple Grove on doing business overseas.

They have a big conference coming up in Greece and I was part of a panel with experts from Spain, Belgium, Germany, Israel, Russia, and Poland helping them prepare.

Beautiful offices, (this is their lobby), fun panel and good discussion.

Why your 360 appraisal shouldn’t suck!

noreply@blogger.com (David Farrar) — Fri, 28 May 2010 15:40:00 +0000

In various places around the world there are probably more than 20,000 professionals doing some kind of 360 degree performance review that I helped their employers design.

Obviously, I like multi-rater appraisals. But, just like the airline employee that is told everyone’s travel woes, I am told all the time about 360 processes that suck. They shouldn’t.

When I hear 360’s aren’t going well I know it’s one of two things: either there’s something flawed in the process, or the culture of the organization isn’t supportive of candid, constructive feedback. This article is about what you can do to fix each of these.

A 360 Degree review is when someone gets structured feedback on their performance from the variety of sources all around them…peers, internal and external customers, their managers, people they have worked with on projects, and their direct reports, just to name a few different groups who can be involved. Let’s call them the 3Cs: Customers, Colleagues and Community. All of these have a vested interest in recognizing the person’s strengths and helping them improve their performance.

Ideally there are only two questions you need to ask: “What does the person do well?” and “What are the person’s opportunities for improvement?”

That’s it. Why? Because the aim of the exercise is to find out what the person does well so we can recognize and reward good behavior, along with what the person could do better so we can help them improve to meet the reasonable expectations of the 3Cs.

Sometimes the raters find it hard to structure their feedback in a way that is specific and relevant. It can be useful to ask more guided questions to help the feedback be more useful and easy for raters and person being evaluated. Sometimes an organization will have a leadership model, management competencies, or specific promises that have been made to the 3Cs, (like a “customer service pledge”). If that’s the case it makes sense to ask specifically if these are things the person is doing well, or if they are examples of things the person can usefully improve.

Basically though it will still come down to two questions: “What does the person do well?” and “What are the person’s opportunities for improvement?”

In terms of process it’s now possible to identify a few things that can make 360s suck. If there a bunch of questions that are onerous, intrusive or irrelevant to the raters, then the process sucks. If it isn’t easy for the person rated to translate the feedback into actionable, meaningful performance improvements, then the process sucks. If the person being rated is more concerned with the salary, bonus or promotion impacts of the process than the opportunity to meet the reasonable expectations of their customers, colleagues and community, then the process sucks.

The other big problem with many 360 programs is that they are embedded in a culture that doesn’t support candid, constructive feedback. The most common reason is that they are inappropriately tied to performance and/or salary reviews, so let’s deal with this first.

If I’m designing an ideal performance review there are only two questions I would add to the two 360 review questions. The first is “How did the person do compared to what they promised to do?”   The answer could be in the form of sales results, budget variations, project milestones or whatever. The issue is “here’s what you said you would do, and here’s what you actually did”. If your goals and reviews aren’t that specific they’re probably useless.

Armed with the variance between promised and actual performance you can now sit down with the person to review their results and look at consequences. First, let’s hear what the person has to say, both about their actual versus promised performance, and about what they think they do well. Let’s confirm what they think where we can with the feedback from the 3Cs. Then let’s talk about opportunities for improvement using the 360 feedback and the person’s own views.

Now it is time to move on to the second question you can add to the 360 input at performance review time: “Is this how you want your career to go, and what can we do about it?” With input that’s objectively sourced from all around the person, and a respectful consideration of what they want to get out of their job and career, it’s relatively easy to look at what kinds of training, development activities, rewards and recognition will best suit the individual and the organization.

That sounds like a lot of work, but it isn’t and even if it is, it’s worth it. Lack of effort is one of the biggest problems with 360 feedback or any kind of performance review. There are few things more debilitating for an employee than knowing there is a great, big review coming up only for it to be a one off event followed by “business as usual”.

I have seen a lot of carefully thought out review processes undone by the fact that once the feedback has been received the notes, commitments and details go into a drawer.   They don’t get looked at again for twelve months or the next anxiety producing review session.

Another big organizational killer of 360 feedback, (or any kind of performance review), is the tendency to personalize the material. This takes two forms. One is where the providers of feedback don’t get confidentiality. It should always be possible to give and take candid feedback. It should go without saying that when you solicit feedback anonymously the people providing the feedback should be confident that their input will be kept confidential and there will be no adverse consequences. Without confidentiality where appropriate the feedback becomes self-serving.

The second kind of personalization that kills feedback is when the input from the raters focuses on the person rated rather than their performance or abilities. Sometimes people use the review process to “get back” at the person rated, or use the opportunity to make the rated person look worse thinking it makes the rater look better.

If the process is being run internally the solution for both of these is for someone outside the feedback loop to moderate the input. This can be done by merging/purging the data so that it doesn’t easily carry identifying material, or by going back to the rater and asking them to be less personal and more performance focused with their comments.

This sort of process moderation is often carried out by functions such as HR or Quality Assurance. Similarly, HR or the person’s manager should ensure that the person being rated doesn’t take the feedback personally, or disrespect the input by devaluing the people it comes from. If an external coach or consultant is running the process this is one of their essential functions.

In summary then, here are the keys to ensuring your 360 doesn’t suck:

•    One questionnaire to the person’s customers, colleagues and community with as few as two questions, or as many as are specific, relevant and easy for raters to handle.
•    Confidentiality for raters.
•    One review at the end of each significant time period, achievement or milestone that adds a comparison of actual and promised performance, identification of what’s going well and what can be improved, and a discussion of career and job development.

•    Feedback formatted in a way that is actionable for the person rated.
•    Developmental 360 feedback separated from salary, bonus or promotion consequences so that the focus is on…development.
•    Accountability placed on the rated person to come up with an action plan, and follow up sessions to ensure that what is promised becomes what is delivered.

A good 360 degree performance review process focuses attention on what matters most for the person to meet the performance expectations of their customers, colleagues and community, and provides a supportive environment for that to happen. That's what performance reviews should be all about.

Feign Some Fear

noreply@blogger.com (David Farrar) — Tue, 25 May 2010 00:50:00 +0000

Here's a quick fun follow up to last week's "Flight or Fight" post.

Some animals have learned the right thing to do is to "Feign Some Fear".

Fight Or Flight? What About The Other Five F's?

noreply@blogger.com (David Farrar) — Thu, 13 May 2010 23:14:00 +0000

This is a short summary of the presentation I made to the Twin Cities Human Resources Association’s Spring Conference. The turnout was excellent. As a speaker I really appreciated the organization and audience interest.

The conference theme was “Leveraging Human Capital During the Economic Recovery”. I promised the audience my perspective on what it takes to successfully get the best out of people during times of change, stress and opportunity.

Here are the three key slides from my presentation:

Here is the first key to successfully helping people with change and challenges: Understand the level at which you are operating. We talked about how many people are brought in to be “Change Managers” without clear, shared expectations about roles and responsibilities.

The slide at the top of this post outlines the three sets of change management skills, (content, people and roadmap), and the three sets of change analysis, (organization, group and individual).

One side-bar discussion centered on the change management skills. On most change projects there is a name for the person with the content knowledge. They are called the Subject Matter Expert, (SMI). There’s also a name for the road map expert. They’re called the Project Manager, (PM).

Unfortunately there isn’t a commonly used name for the “people expert”, which means the role is often overlooked or undervalued. In line with the theme of the conference we proposed calling them the “Human Capital Partner”, (HCP).

All significant change projects that require more than one person should have someone who fulfills the roles of SMI, PM and HCP, and there should be clear expectations around the level at which they are expected to operate and manage change.

Here is the second key to successfully helping people with change and challenges: Acknowledge and respond appropriately to people’s reactions. This sounds obvious, but the truth is that some people have no understanding of how people respond to change or challenges.

Sometimes change leaders assume everyone responds the way they do, or they assume everyone should respond the way they do. Other times change leaders are sucked into believing that people will react to a stressor or significant change with the classic “fight or flight” response, and the only thing to do is let them get over it and move on.

There are actually at least five other typical responses, including freeze, faint, fumble and fidget. In the presentation I talked about the classic freeze response, which is where someone is so overcome with the impact of the change that they are incapable of producing a sensible response, and end up doing nothing until they are forced into action. Faint, fumble and fidget can be equally ineffective, yet you see examples of them all the time in people’s immediate responses to stressors and change.

The appropriate response is to use the Basic Interpersonal Skills, and help them over time to the fifth F: Focus. The right response in almost every circumstance is to focus on the few things with the most impact on a better future and the path to get there.

This is the third key to successfully helping people with change and challenges: Systematically guide them through the change process.

Here’s a dirty little secret. Some consultants and experts want to sell you their unique perspective on human behavior and their “patented change model”. This is going to make me unpopular with some of those people. Here is the truth we know from many studies and much practical experience: people generally follow a predictable path when dealing with change and transitions.

You can see the path in the diagram. There is a “Flight or Fight” zone, (which we know actually includes the other five F’s), a process of acceptance with the change, which involves self-concern and a search for meaning and options, and finally an internalization period, which involves testing and exploration, and finally ownership of the changed state.

If you understand the change process you can guide people through it successfully. For example, don’t bother trying to train people or get them to take ownership of a change until you have dealt with the issues of self-concern and anxiety. At a deeper level, there is a right time for broadcast emails from the CEO and roadshows of the new system, and a right time for process training and the introduction of job-aids. You had better know which is which!

Many thanks to the Twin Cities Human Resources Association for hosting the event and the invitation to speak; Jason Kujanen and Kathy Kacher, (Conference Chair Lead and Conference Co-Chair), for their excellent organization skills; SueLynn Junkert for being a great master of ceremonies for my session, (she introduced me in a very flattering way, and she asked about my dogs!), and the engaged and involved audience for coming along and offering their insights and challenging questions.

The New Global Market: Panel discussion at Carslon School of Management

noreply@blogger.com (David Farrar) — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 22:11:00 +0000

This is a quick update to the recent panel discussion I participated in at Carlson School of Management. Each of the participants had a unique point of view on The New Global Market, but there was also a lot in common among the four of us.

(L to R: Brett Schockley, David Farrar, James Thomas, Amit Gupta)

Our moderator was Dileep Rao, Ph.D., Carlson School of Management: three-time Outstanding MBA Teacher of the Year; international entrepreneur and author of the book "Bootstrap to Billions."

In his opening remarks Dileep talked about some of the causes of the global economic crisis. Having started us at such a high level of analysis he went on to talk about individuals and how they can best succeed in an international market. Two of his best pieces of advice were "do your passion" and "jump on a trend". If you want to know what some of the trends were that he mentioned you'll have to buy his book!

Amit Gupta
Chairman, Amsum & Ash, Inc
• Co-founder and chairman of TAB India, a Jaipur-based quarrier, processor and marketer of granite, marble, slate and sandstone sold around the world.

Here is the one best piece of advice I took from Amit's talk: "Take a non-business business trip." Amit told us how he has built his business from a standing start to a major global player in the stone business. Whenever he entered a new market he has always invested in a non-business trip first for himself and his key sales people. Although you might think stone is stone, Amit talked about how every market he works in is different. His non--business business trips enable him and his team to understand how each market differs culturally in the way they do business in general, and in his industry in particular.

For example, we think our kitchen industry is pretty advanced in America. I was surprised to hear Amit talk about just how long people in Europe have been working and living with stone in their kitchens. While we think of marble bench tops as the latest things our European colleagues have had stone and marble countertops for hundreds of years. To work in that market you had better be sure you have an open mind and are prepared to see things differently.

Brett Schockley
Vice President of Emerging Products & Technology, Avaya
• Co-founder of Spanlink Communications
• Leads Avaya’s global professional services team for Contact Center and Unified Communications
• MBA, Carlson School of Management

Brett has seen and done amazing things in the IT industry. You might think his presentation would have been all about the technology but in fact one of the first things Brett said to our audience was "invest in relationships". Brett talked about how international business is a lot like local business: you have to add value and you have to be able to demonstrate how you can serve the customer.

Brett also talked ethics and principles. Although many markets vary in their views of what is right and proper, Brett emphasized principles of doing business that he held fast to regardless of the market he was in.

Brett's summary was that at the end of the day it's all about how you get on with your customers, your colleagues and your community.

James Thomas
Vice President of International Sales, Mate Precision Tooling in Anoka
• New sales channels in Mexico, Eastern Europe and Brazil
• Former President of Colder Products International
• MBA Thunderbird-Garvin School of International Management

Jim took a very pragmatic approach. He himself describes his business as putting holes in pieces of metal. He has built an extensive business around the world and a lot of it is based upon finding the right salespeople for the right market. Jim talked about putting effort into finding good salespeople and setting them up with the right tools. One of Jim's key points was that international business is not one market, it's 135 markets or more. You have to market globally, and sell locally. Perhaps not surprisingly, most of the lessons learned that Jim talked about were people lessons.

And then there was me...

Dr. David Farrar
International Business Consultant
• Former head of human resources in Southeast Asia and Global Organization Effectiveness Manager at Cargill.
• Speaker and consulting roles in Australia, Belgium, Germany, Malaysia, South Africa, Singapore, Switzerland, UK and U.S.

This was a really high-powered panel. Each of the previous presenters has built a significant global business and made a real contribution to the local and international business community. Most of my working life has been spent inside organizations. It is only in the last five years that I've worked for myself, built up my own business, and worked on my own behalf with clients here and overseas, although on a much smaller scale than my fellow panelists.

My perspective was a little different, but it had a lot in common with the others. I talked about having to keep an open mind to different ways of doing business, but making sure you stayed true to yourself and your principles. I mentioned some of the tools I have used with my clients, such as the Freedom Scale for understanding how much delegation you can afford to give your international partners, and the Loose/Tight analysis that can help you decide just what principles you need to hold on to and which practices you can afford to let go.

Afterward there were plenty of questions from an enthusiastic audience of sales and marketing professionals, MBA students and budding entrepreneurs. Here's my take on three points I think we all converged on In our answers:

Be open to different cultural perspectives
Provide value as seen from your customer's point of view
Be trustworthy and principled

As we were leaving I noticed something that none of us had commented on, but each of us had taken for granted.

We all talked about getting out there, connecting in person, and building relationships face-to-face. Nothing beats a personal connection, and when you're doing business internationally it's so easy for things to go wrong, and so necessary to have a personal relationship. We all assumed you have to be able to build personal relationships with people. In a modern world full of video conferences, virtual meetings and...blogs...it's nice to think the personal touch is still all important.

Many thanks to Duane Roemmich of Mercuri International, and Roger Hokansen of Predictable Performance for arranging our event, Dileep Rao and the Carlson School of Management for hosting, (check out his book "Bootstrap To Billions"), the audience for their excellent and often challenging questions, and my fellow panelists for their fine contributions.

A little entrepreneur in every business traveler

noreply@blogger.com (David Farrar) — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 14:34:00 +0000

One of my clients just sent me this link. (Thanks Craig).

It resonated with me just as I'm about to go speak at the Carlson Business School this afternoon on doing business globally.

Even if you're not a business owning entrepreneur, going overseas to do business requires some of the risk-taking mindset in this article.... You have to be able to let go of the status quo, and open yourself up to new and different ways of doing things.

From Columbus in the Americas to Google in China, whether a business owner or advance party for a large corporate, everyone who sets off to do business in a new world has to have a little of the entrepreneur in them.

Discover Your Inner Entrepreneur - Dan Pallotta - Harvard Business Review

blogs.hbr.org

David to speak at Carlson School of Management

noreply@blogger.com (David Farrar) — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 22:14:00 +0000

I'm on a panel to speak at the Carlson School of Management next week on "Selling, Marketing and Management Tools In The New Global Market." If you're local and you can come along I'll be glad to look out for you and introduce you around.   It should be a good evening. They have a great panel of speakers which I'm pleased to have been invited to join. I'm looking forward to hearing what they have to say!

You can find details of the event below and: here.

SMEI Minnesota Presents

The New Global Market
Selling, marketing and management challenges in the new global market

Carlson School of Mgmt 3M Auditorium, Minneapolis
Thursday, April 22, 2010 (4:30 PM - 6:30 PM)

Moderated by Dileep Rao, Ph.D., Carlson School of Management. Three-time Outstanding MBA Teacher of the Year; International entrepreneur and book author, Bootstrap to Billions.

Amit Gupta
Chairman, Amsum & Ash, Inc
• Co-founder and chairman of TAB India, a Jaipur-based quarrier, processor and marketer of granite, marble, slate and sandstone sold around the world.

Brett Schockley
Vice President of Emerging Products & Technology, Avaya
• Co-founder of Spanlink Communications
• Leads Avaya’s global professional services team for Contact Center and Unified Communications
• MBA, Carlson School of Management

James Thomas
Vice President of International Sales, Mate Precision Tooling in Anoka
• New sales channels in Mexico, Eastern Europe and Brazil
• Former President of Colder Products International
• MBA Thunderbird-Garvin School of International Management

Dr. David Farrar
International Business Consultant
• Former head of human resources in Southeast Asia and global effectiveness manager at Cargill.
• Speaker and consulting roles in Australia, Belgium, Germany, Malaysia, South Africa, Singapore, Switzerland, UK and U.S.

This event is FREE

Advance registration is required. If you prefer to register by phone please call 800-999-1414 ext 202.

And you can go to our new Facebook Business Page if you would like to let me know you're coming.

I'll look forward to seeing you!

My work with clients is like the first run of spring!

noreply@blogger.com (David Farrar) — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 03:03:00 +0000

If you know anything at all about me you probably know I’m a runner. My parents remember me heading out for a run in my neighborhood from the time I was around eleven. At fifteen I got a part time after school job in a supermarket about three miles away, and I would walk home, change, run to work, pack bags and stock shelves until store closing, then run home again.

I’ve been running for a long time. Today my running broke through to a new level and it reminded me of my client work. Here’s how.

This is me just before my first outdoor run of the spring season. It’s a beautiful change of seasons day in Minnesota. The temperature is a relatively balmy 45F but the lakes are still crisp and white with winter’s ice. The trees are still bare yet the snow cover has melted and the first blades of grass are coming through.

I approach my running the way I approach much of my consulting and coaching work.

First, you had better enjoy what you do.

Every now and again I run into a prospective client or an employee in one of my clients who just doesn’t enjoy their work. When I was fifteen I never imagined being able to run a marathon. Now I’m going to be fifty this year and I can’t imagine the sprints and splits I used to do when I was younger. Nevertheless, at each time in my life I’ve matched my expectations to what’s practical and enjoyed the ride. Life’s too short not to enjoy what you do, so a good starting point for everyone is to make sure you love what you’re doing.

So...I enjoy running. I’m heading outdoors for the first time in three or four months when I’ve been avoiding the depths of winter. While it’s been cold and dark I have been running indoors on a treadmill. Since my operation last year I’ve been slowly building back up, grateful that it was probably my fitness that pulled me through the surgery in the first place.

Over the course of winter I have changed my technique quite dramatically. For those of you who are runners, I’ve moved from being a heel strike/toe liftoff runner to a midsole runner. That means I am no longer landing on my heel and rolling forward through my stride until I push off from my toe. Instead, I’m landing on my midfoot and pulling up on my heel to move forward. That’s a very big difference and not at all intuitive, but it’s the way most long distance runners run.

Learning any fundamentally new skill is hard but there are three stages and they apply equally to running or learning a new management competency. The starting point for me was form. First I had to focus on the new way of moving my legs and feet, and I had to practice it over and over until I was doing it right. In the early stage of developing any skill it’s all about technique. I knew getting the motion right from the beginning would mean I had less to “unlearn” as time went on.

The second stage in my transition was range. I started off barely able to maintain my form for more than a few hundred meters. I slowly extended my limit, being able to maintain form for longer and longer. Once I could do that I worked on the other part of my range, the ability to move uphill and down, to maintain my form when I was fresh and when I was tired, and finally, to maintain my form through the whole running repertoire of sprints, jogs and fast walks. All the while I was gradually growing my abilities while still focusing on my technique.

Finally, I could pull it all together and see the effect on my enjoyment, endurance and speed. Speed is the last thing a runner should concentrate on. All things being equal I know I can maintain my form over any distance or type of terrain in front of me. The only thing that varies is the speed and how long it will take. Once I’m thinking about speed I start to see how everything relates together, how little changes here and there improve performance, the fun I get out of my running and how my new technique works successfully across all environments.

Working with businesses and senior executives is exactly the same. First, focus on technique and the few things with the most impact. Second, grow skills and range, developing capacity and confidence. Finally, look at how everything relates and how to maximize results. Focus, Grow, Relate.

I cruised around the lake today at my fastest speed for a couple of years. Excellent. And yes, I really enjoy my work too.

David presents to the Sales and Marketing Executives International

noreply@blogger.com (David Farrar) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 19:27:00 +0000

If you are interested in doing business overseas you should come along to this presentation on February 25th. I will be talking about "The Differences That Make A Difference" when it comes to doing business in another culture. I'll cover one attitude, one rule and three tools that will make your overseas experience a lot easier, and you will get to network with a great group of experienced sales and marketing professionals.

Registration details are below:

(Note: This event has now passed. If you attended and you would like a copy of the slides you can access them by clicking here.)

SMEI Minnesota Presents

The Differences that Make A Difference: Cultural Issues In
International Sales & Marketing

Fort Snelling Officer’s Club, Highway 5 and Post Rd, St. Paul
Thursday, February 25, 2010 (7:30 AM - 9:30 AM)

Dr. David Farrar will explore the issues and pitfalls that confront American sales and marketing executives when going international. His experience in global business, with a special emphasis on Asian business, will provide cultural awareness and powerful insights.

Attend this presentation for a pragmatic and humorous session on how to go international and survive in radically different cultures.

Dr. David Farrar, Former Head of Human Resources in SE Asia and Global Organization Effectiveness Manager, Cargill

David studied at the Royal Military College of Australia, (MUR), University of Melbourne, and Northwestern University, (Kellogg Business School). He has degrees in economics and psychology, completed his graduate work with honors, and was accredited as a psychologist in the Commonwealth of Australia.

His speaking and consulting roles have taken him around the world including Australia, Belgium, Germany, Malaysia, South Africa, Singapore, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

He has also been an adjunct and visiting professor at various universities, where he taught classes in Ethics, Leadership and Conflict Management for MBA and other graduate programs. David is the President and CEO of FGRassociates, LLC.

Click Here To Register

You are receiving this communication as a valued member or subscriber. If you no longer wish to receive email notices about upcoming events, please reply with "unsubscribe SMEI Minnesota" in the subject line. SMEI Minnesota is a chapter of Sales & Marketing Executives International, Inc., the worldwide professional association for sales & marketing. More information at http://www.smeiminnesota.org

Five tips for better team building events

noreply@blogger.com (David Farrar) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 01:09:00 +0000

I do not like team building events. It’s not because I don’t like building teams, it’s just that so many of the so-called “team building” strategies I see are divorced from the everyday realities of the team’s life. As a result, the team feels more demotivated by the non-related event than if they had been left alone to get their work done.

People form into teams naturally under situations of group opportunity or stress. A team is a group of people who function cooperatively as a group toward a common goal. Under the wrong conditions teams can form that don’t have the same goals as the organizations they work in. Conditions such as resistance to change, coping with stress and punishing people they see as outside their group. Managers and leaders want to promote teams where the cooperative work is aligned to the organization’s purpose, and the teams productivity is greater than the sum of the individual parts. Here are five steps for planning a positive team building event.

1. Make sure that the team is a team. Too often, the team is really a group of people who happen to work in the same department or in the same function. They don’t have common goals, they don’t share rewards or work on projects together. They just sit together, report to the same manager, or work on the same project. Pulling a “team" like this together for team building that is separate from the group’s normal way of doing business just builds cynicism. Send people to a team building event when all the rewards in the group are based on individual goals will have no lasting impact.

2. Let the team plan the event. I know this sounds dangerous! The success of the team building event begins a long time before the event occurs. Wouldn’t it be a little ironic to try to build team behaviors without letting the team exhibit those behaviors? Let the team model the behaviors you are trying to instill, and coach and guide them along the way. Delegate the task properly and the team building event will give the team the sense of empowerment and collaboration you want them demonstrate.

3. Plan the event around a meaningful business purpose. I won’t lead events that are out of context for the team or divorced from their regular work. Perhaps the meaningful business purpose is celebrating a recent success, or working as a group to set team norms. It doesn’t matter in a big sense if the business purpose might otherwise be a downer for the team…I have seen successful events built around the theme of recovering from losing a major account or building bridges with a client after a serious project misstep. Don’t have a team event just to build an overall sense of teamwork. I once worked with a VP who took her team out to Paint A Plate for a day. It was a waste of time because the event was just a fun day with no link to anything the team did back in their cubicles. If someone had linked painting plates with good team behaviors it might have worked. (My example was probably made worse by the fact that she didn't attend the second half of the event at the local theme park: what message did that send to her people?) We might just as well have been throwing balloons around or going boating. Try selling those to a team that’s going through a work slump.

4. Follow up with meaningful activities back at the work place. Probably as part of the event the team will learn something about each other’s strengths and development opportunities, or someone will come up with a new strategy for cross-functional co-operation. Make sure that there is a visible process that everyone contributes to that brings the team building event back to work. Make it an agenda item at a coming management meeting to debrief the event for What Went Well, What Opportunities Were Uncovered, and What Commitments Were Made.

5. Finally, if you want the event to build good team behavior you had better know what good team behavior looks like. If you don’t already know what good team behavior looks like you need to get a list together so you monitor, recognize and reward the right behavior when it occurs at the event, and back at the work place. If you want a quick checklist you could do a lot worse than use Patrick Lencioni’s model. He describes Five Dysfunctions of a Team, but to make it easier to see the positive side of his model I will rephrase it to make Five Functional Behaviors of a High Performing Team. Simply put they are: Trust Each Other; Embrace Conflict Positively; Commit To The Team’s Goals; Ensure and Accept Accountability, and Focus on the Team’s Stakeholders’ Results.

Using what’s above you can plan an event that will build your staff into a positive team. First, make sure they really are a team with common goals, work processes and rewards. Let them plan some team building together. Make sure they build the event around a meaningful business purpose. Make sure they follow up by bringing the learnings of the event back to the workplace. And finally, make sure you have set clear expectations with them for what good team behavior is.

Now, do you trust them enough to let them loose with your team building objective and a budget?