MOJO is a funny thing, you sure as hell know when you have it, but it is really hard to find when you lose it!

Mine is lost; been looking for it for a while now, yet still nothing – *sigh*.

I have just finished facilitating an appreciative inquiry for a bunch of senior managers in a mining company. An appreciative inquiry is a method of getting people to focus on what is working for them in order to build more of that, rather than focus on what is not working, and trying to problem solve. There is a set of assumptions that sit behind an appreciative inquiry as follows: there is always something that works, what we focus on becomes our reality, there are multiple realities and the act of asking questions influences the moment.

The inquiry has four parts to it:

Discover: what is working well?
Dream: what would I like to be, do or have?
Design: how am I going to achieve what I want to be, do or have?
Deliver: what can I influence, what can I do and by when?

It got me thinking that if I preach this stuff, I should be able to live it and apply the assumptions to myself, so I went on a path of discovery to identify what is working for me and I came up with the following list aptly titled:

These are a few of my favourite things

I love I can get out of bed in the morning… that sentence could finish there, but I will continue with… and sit at my computer and write. I write story, I blog, I tweet, I email, I message.

I love that I have i-tunes on my computer and I download songs. I am back in touch with song. I have my guitar; I am remembering chords and can play and sing ‘Bridge over troubled water.’ I first learnt this song on my guitar when I was fifteen.

I love hanging out with my friends. I love doing long lunches, just chatting and enjoying. I love walking and playing with my dogs. I love being connected to friends via text. I love texting, I love hearing the sound of a new text message beep on my phone. I love my family. I love life. I love…

Yep, it works. When you start to realise all the things that are good in your life, you realise how blessed you are, well at least I did.

So ok, I get my life can function without mojo. But imagine the possibilities with mojo? Now there’s a thought, so I think I will keep looking a little longer. Yoohoo, mojo… where are you mojo? Here mojo …

Just when I thought I was starting to see light at the end of the tunnel, bam! I get a huge jolt to the core of my very being by having my stable monthly source of income terminated. It was on the cards but I had it on good authority, or so I thought that I had until the end of the year before it would actually eventuate. So to have it happen almost out of the blue and so soon has sent me into a huge spin and left me feeling extremely fragile. So what does a grown woman do, when she is feeling like this? Well, sulk… of course!

I realise that this is not life threatening, not for me anyway. I am able to rationally think through situations like these and plot a path of recovery. But that is not to say, I can’t wallow in self pity, sulk, feel sorry for myself and whinge about the situation; all of which I did with my colleague and friend in Melbourne.

I want my solo life and for that to happen the EX and I need to resolve our financials. I have put the house on the market for sale and removed it; I have put the house into the corporate leasing market and removed it also. So just when I had reconciled myself to staying in the house and enjoying it as I intended when I embarked on the renovations a couple of years back, I suddenly find myself in the predicament of not having a guaranteed source of income. This is pretty amazing, as I have never been in this situation ever, so it begs the question “why now?”

You would have heard me say on many occasions “I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up” so I think perhaps that this is the universe saying to me ‘well, if you can’t figure it, we’ll push you along and insist you start finding your way.’

I have become a big fan, or perhaps a better description is, addict of Twitter. Twitter is a messaging, come networking tool that allows you to stay connected with people (your followers) on-line. You tweet short messages, no longer than a 140 characters as frequently as you like, providing updates of what you are thinking or doing.

So I tweeted:

 “When one door shuts, another opens – right? So… Ok… I’m waiting.”

I am wondering if this is the start of my new life. That perhaps today is the day I will find the courage to embark on the life I am passionate about. I am not yet sure exactly what that passion is, although I do have an inkling, and perhaps any moment now I will gain that clarity?

Again, I tweeted:

 “Today is the first day of the rest of my new life; my mojo awaits.”

I have had two significant relationships end in a very short space of time; first, my long term personal relationship and now my six year client relationship. I am pondering ‘what is this about’ and potentially I think it is about having faith that what is happening right now is the right thing to happen and whilst I am feeling fragile I simply need to go with what is. My words are almost prophetic. A couple of weeks back I wrote on my Facebook Wall: ‘When life seems confusing, just go with what is.’ And here I am feeling fragile and trying to hold the faith that what is… is OK.

Having said that, as I sat back of room in the last workshop I will be facilitating for the client, I pondered my position, opened my notebook and wrote:

Time to get my shit together…

I am a writer, on-line marketer and business entrepreneur.
I can only fail, if I give up.

Do this:

1. Embark on BIG marketing campaign around all Lifelong Learning product and services
2. Build a focus on wellness / wellbeing
3. Learn to use the Business Contact Manager in Microsoft Office
4. Schedule public courses as part of brand building and marketing

John Demartini in his book ‘The breakthrough experience’ talks of acting now as if you have achieved your dream. He says articulate your vision through a model of BE – DO – HAVE. That is, what is it you want to be? How are you going to do that? And what will you have as a result of achieving this?

So for me:

BE:     

I am a WRITER; a syndicated writer for a column or piece in a newspaper or magazine; an author of books.

DO:            

Sell, hawk, tout my wares to newspapers, magazines, publishers; create a BIG on-line presence and find an agent.

HAVE:     

Freedom… to pursue life.

I am wondering when this comes to be, if I will look back and say thank you to the client for terminating my contract and pushing me to finally find my mojo?

Feedback… of course… where was your head at?  Feedback is so important for us to truly gain a sense of who we are, by validating our view of self through others.

Mirror, mirror on the wall; do I see me warts and all?

I have been telling this version of the Snow White story for many years now. It is a true story about me.  You see I used to look in my mirror and see Snow White. I saw myself as a results-oriented hard worker; a people-person who was fun to be around. What I didn’t see was how others viewed me. To them I was obsessed with work and winning; aggressively task-oriented through driving people; and as for fun, it was on my terms only.

So where I saw Snow White, others saw Wicked Witch of the West. What a shock when someone finally decided to share this with me. My immediate reaction of course was deny – blame – justify.  Deny that I was anything other than sweetness and light, blame anyone and everyone else, because if I behaved in a certain way it was because *they* made me and justify my position on some basis, because it was important for me to protect my EGO, my view of me.  Wow, what a bitter pill to swallow! But as my mother would say, “Where there is smoke there is usually fire.”

So I took some time to reflect on the feedback I had just received, and so my journey of self discovery and creating congruence between my inner and outer self began.

To get a sense of how you feel about feedback ask yourself ‘do you like to give it?’  If your answer is no then more than likely you don’t like to receive it either.  Feedback has to be reciprocal.  That is, if you provide feedback to others you must be prepared also to receive it.  Most of us think that feedback is confrontational, perhaps even negative.  However, feedback is simply a method of gaining clarity around our behaviours and attitudes. 

For example, I might see myself as a shy retiring sort of person that doesn’t like to get in people’s way.  So this translates into me arriving at work each morning without bothering my fellow workers and settling into my desk and computer and starting my day.  What my fellow workers see however is someone that is aloof, maybe a little arrogant (what! can’t even say good morning or hello) and potentially someone who is not a team player and doesn’t care; and all of these statements have the potential for becoming powerful limiting career options.  All that has to happen in this instance is for someone to tell me, and usually when the feedback is received it is received graciously because most of us are not aware how we behave or more importantly how our behaviours are perceived.  I would have been mortified to hear that I was perceived as aloof and not a team player as I was mortified when I was actually told I was aggressive and steam-rolling over my team! 

I didn’t get it, I didn’t understand that I was perceived in that way and most of us are the same.  We don’t like feedback because we see it as personal.  That is, I don’t want to hurt his feelings so I won’t tell him the team think he should not be on the project because he won’t speak out at meetings.   If we look at that last sentence in terms of ‘I don’t want to hurt his feelings’, how arrogant is that?  How arrogant for us to think that another person is not capable of receiving feedback. So rather than show compassion and inform the person, we say and do nothing and again potentially limit that person’s career.

When providing feedback we should look at the performance or the behaviour NOT wrap the person up with it.  That is, rather than make comments like “Henry, you are lazy and have a poor attitude toward your job.”  Re-frame the feedback to be specific and say “Henry, you have been 15 minutes late for the last three mornings. Please explain why.”

The key to feedback is to remember:

‘We may not remember what was said,
but we will always remember how it made us feel’

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, magic and power in it. Begin it now. ~ Goethe

Well … here we are, at the start of the new financial year. Have you noticed how fast the months and years are going by or is it just me?

The answer to life?

Throughout the year, I have been pondering life, love and the universe trying to figure the answer to that eternal question ‘what is life all about?’ That is, what is it I am here to do, what is my purpose? Am I happy? What do I want to achieve in life? How do I want to live my life? I am sure most of us, at some stage have had similar thoughts… as I *get* that some of us have never had these types of thoughts. Which begs the question ‘does life just happen to us, or do we play some role in determining the life we lead?’

Choice or no choice?

I am going to work on the proposition that we create the life we lead, we create every drama and every scenario that plays out for us; and this is relevant to both our personal and professional lives. How do we do this? Through choice. Every choice we make is a choice, even when we truly believe we don’t have a choice. The mere notion of not having a choice, IS actually a choice and this sets the scene for whatever is going to happen next. Having said that, no choice is a bad choice. All choices simply provide the path we tread at that given time. If after, we decide we should have, could have done something different or better then that sets the path for making a different choice next time. Where perhaps we fail, is when we keep doing the same thing, keep making the same choices hoping for a different outcome?

The essence of Self?

Life, relationships and leadership all start within. We don’t really understand life, can’t really build sound relationships and certainly aren’t able to lead effectively if we don’t have a sense of who we are. That is, what is the essence of me: who am I, what values do I hold, what is important to me, what would I never compromise, what expectations do I have for me, for others – whether that be family, friends or work colleagues? In other words, what do I know about me?

Now, this is the interesting part. How do I know what I believe to know about me is true? What if, I don’t really know that about me, I just think it to be me? And this is the place most of us are at? We have a view of ourselves we believe to be true but most times it is so inextricably entwined with our EGO that we create a false sense of who we are, and this drives the choices we make. We make choices that are designed to protect our EGO, to protect our sense of self. We make choices that potentially limit our ability, limit ourselves.

Lifelong Learning?

I get it! And I get that this is where learning for life fits. It is about creating consciousness and deep understanding of self. For it is only when we truly understand ourselves that we can effectively interact with others in whatever capacity that may be: as child, as parent, as partner, as work colleague, as team member, as leader. Learning about Self is crucial and understanding that Self is complex and made up of many aspects, all which need to be balanced and nourished is vital. Learning this, learning about self, should underpin every other piece of learning that ever takes place.

Well-being and Wellness?

My business, Lifelong Learning operates within a well-being model called the Seven-Dimensions. The Seven-dimensions enables us to explore work-life balance and the mind-body connection, to build depth of understanding around the fact that the work and learning we undertake, contributes to the health and wellness of each of us as individuals, groups, organisations and communities.

So, what is the answer to life?

Whatever you want it to be. It is all about you. It is knowing that life is full of possibilities and you are full of potential.

Huh? You don’t believe me? Well, therein lies the answer…

So ponder this… what choices are you making now to create the future you want?

Einstein made the comment:

It is the first sign of insanity to keep doing the same thing hoping for a different outcome.

I have just been involved in a two-day workshop geared for world-class presenters and was reminded of the amount of background technique, method, content and context required to truly set participants on fire and ensure learning and behavioural change occurs. Why am I telling you this? Because I don’t believe the average person realises just how much work goes into making a workshop a memorable learning experience and I certainly don’t believe that the majority of the holders of the Certificate IV workplace training qualification get this either?

It seems that in order to provide workplace training of any sorts today, it is obligatory if not mandatory to hold the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment (TAA). So this qualification has become a ‘must have’ in industry and in parallel with this need, the intent of the qualification has become diluted. My colleagues and I talk about this all the time. If we all had a dollar for the amount of times we have heard participants or potential trainers say ‘I just want the piece of paper’ we would all be extremely wealthy. And unfortunately this is exactly what has happened. In the quest to provide the piece of paper, industry is churning out very ordinary trainers, trainers who have no concept of engaging the learner, trainers who have no idea how to structure a piece so that it is clear to the learner what they are learning, trainers who use death by PowerPoint and over load the learner with useless and too much information.

Learning can be overt and learning can be subtle. Sometimes the best learning occurs not by what is being said but by what is not being said. How many trainers know what NOT to say? How many trainers are comfortable with silence? How many trainers provide their learners with an environment that is conducive for them to learn? How many trainers even know how their learners learn?

The Certificate IV in Training and Assessment, the Australian Qualifications Framework and the Australian Quality Training Framework have all been designed to meet a need; a workplace / industry need and workplaces and industries have embraced this framework with gusto – but is it working?

I hang out a lot in the mining sector. This is one industry that has seemingly embraced the framework and sends all their operator trainers on TAA programs. The training departments within most of these mining organisations talk about the AQTF, build their job descriptions, training plans and training matrices around the metalliferous mining competencies and create assessments designed to determine if operators and others within the business are competent to do their jobs: sounds magnificent, feels robust and looks rigorous, but is it?

Mining companies have an added reason to embrace this framework and that is safety. It is legislated within the Mines Safety Inspections Act (MSIA) Regulation 4.13 that all persons working on a mine site will have adequate instruction and training in safety procedures, systems of work and in the tasks required of the employee; they will be assessed before commencing work at the mine; they will be retrained and reassessed whenever systems of work or plant and equipment change; records are made of any instruction, training, retraining, assessment or reassessment and those records will be kept for a minimum of 2 years after the record is made.

So Section 4.13 provides a compelling reason for mining companies to embrace this training and assessment framework and build and support a world class training system. Sadly, this does not happen. Let’s unpack that last sentence; sadly – this – does – not – happen. I am sure by now many reading this blog are feeling quite indignant that I should make such a comment. But that is the point. I so understand that for all intents and purposes it appears that many, if not all companies within industries have what they would feel is a robust training and assessment system. However, this becomes extremely diluted because the same companies focus on the parts that are not truly important. They focus on the paperwork, on the record keeping, on meeting policy and legislative frameworks and audits; they focus on the parts of training that do not affect cultural or behavioural change forgetting that the only reason we train people is to influence the way they do the job aligned to best or world practice.

So given that I have done my hours, given that I have been operating in this field for many years, I feel my opinion is worthy of listening along with industry statistics (workers compensation and the number of injuries and deaths) that suggest whatever the mining industry is doing currently, is not working. So my question is, given we all know it is not working, why then are organisation’s not doing anything different?

It reminds me of that quote:

If we continue to do what we have always done, we will continue to get what we have always got.

So we churn out trainers that have a piece of paper, yet do not have basic understanding of pedagogy. We have trainers that have a piece of paper, yet cannot tell you about the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF), because if they could, then they would know that there is really no need for them to have the TAA if they are not issuing a qualification and many, if not most mining organisation’s do not. We have trainers that have a piece of paper that suggest they can assess the competence of others, yet they cannot tell you what the principles of assessment are or the rules of evidence?

If the trainers that hold the qualification understood just these three (3) key principles then I would agree… it would be likely that the organisation would have a robust training and assessment system. But when the fundamentals are missing is it any wonder we have a less than second rate training system that supports the suggestion ‘you got your qualification out of a weetie packet.’

So here is the thing: for learning to occur, for the adult learner to be engaged and fired up about learning, for cultural and behavioural change to occur and people remain safe, we need to go Beyond Cert IV and ensure our trainers get that training is not just an event that our punters show up to and sign appropriate bits of paper, it is about an outcome. It is about visibly seeing a shift in participants after the event and that shift, adds value back to the individual and the business.