Spotlight on: Celebration
Celebration is deep thankfulness for the successes, joys and people in our daily lives.
Peter was a hard-pressed project manager who was brought in to make a
difference and he was determined to do so. Sometimes his focus on getting
things done made him appear a little colder than he was. At one core
group meeting, Peter was put in the ‘hot seat’. He listened as colleagues
that he had argued and jostled with genuinely reflected back to him the
qualities, values and skills they appreciated in him. When his colleagues
had finished sharing there was an enormous glow on his face because the
essence of who he truly is had been recognised and honoured. From being
outcome-focused he became more compassionate and inclusive.
(Continued below)
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Spotlight on: Celebration (Continued from above)
Celebration is what adds the va-va-voom to life! Too often we are lost in the
problems and challenges of daily life, so much so that we forget to notice all
the good things that come along, whether they are small or large. But
celebration is crucial. By focusing on our strengths and achievements,
celebration can change the dynamic at work from depressing to enthusiastic,
pro-active and creative.
We have heard that in Central America groups of people were forced off their
land, attacked, terrorised and made refugees. As soon as they set up a refugee
camp they appointed five committees including one for celebration (along with
education, housing, health and food). They knew that, without celebration,
they lost hope and without hope all is lost.
Create your own mini-celebration today! Think of one person who has made a
difference to you and take two minutes to make a call, write an email, send a
card or just say ‘thank you’.
The Hot Seat
John Rayment & Jon Smith,
Organisers of the Global Fitness Framework Conference
The conference owed much of its success to the way the two convenors set the
tone and created the 'culture' in which we could all learn from each other in a
uniquely supportive and yet rigorous way. John Rayment, in his selfdeprecating
way, led us into uncharted territory and made it all seem feasible
and fun. His colleague Jon Smith was a model of positivity and enthusiasm.
Together, they had put in an enormous amount of behind-the-scenes work so
that we hit the ground running and the pace and energy never flagged.
Our thanks to Alan for this month’s contribution. Write in and nominate your
colleague for our May issue: just send us a short paragraph about why you
appreciate working with them. jennifer.hurley@lamontassociates.com
Book Review
Affluenza, Oliver James (2007)
A controversial book, Affluenza paints a compelling picture of the shadow side
of societies built on money, possessions, appearances (physical and social) and
fame. James argues that by focusing solely on appearance to the exclusion of
all else, we are creating soul-less societies focused on wants not needs, on
appearance not substance; where we never have enough even when we have
too much.
‘Affluenza’ was originally popularised in the United States in 1997 and James
examines its causes, consequences and what he calls its ‘vaccines’. James
highlights what many have suspected: more is not necessarily better. In fact,
more can be worse. By focusing on external validation many of us are losing
our values, vision and our sense of deep connection to all that is truly
important to us, from family and friends to rewarding work.
Using vignettes from interviews across the world, Section One outlines the
symptoms of this virus, from the search for eternal youth to confusing our
financial values with our moral values. Section Two offers a thematic
overview of the symptoms - "luxury fever", debt, overwork, waste,
psychological distress and environmental degradation. Alongside these he
also elaborates on the vaccines. His suggestions to avoid being hit by the
virus include: auditing your motives and goals, and identifying work
activities that have intrinsic motivation for you.
It is a fascinating read, though it can be a little long-winded. But it helps
clarify some of the paradoxes and contradictions in consumerist societies.
His core message is simple: choose consciously to create lives that are both
successful and nourishing, rather than sleepwalk through life in a blur of
consumerism and psychological distress.
Open Forum
This month we are printing some thoughts sent in by Chris Colgan, a Lamont
graduate. He applies many of the principles used in the Lamont Approach.
Values-based recruitment
“I had an interview a couple of weeks ago and it struck me how soul-less the
interview was. It was very well handled by two people and went by the book
for seemingly good interview technique, but there was not one question
about me and who I was or what I enjoyed doing outside work. It did get me
thinking.
If everything is run by the book there is very little space for new ideas and
personal innovations. Tom Peters, the American Management Guru, talks
about similar things in his books. One of the best people I ever employed
started as a temp. Dylan had long ginger hair, a goatee and had been busking
around Europe. By the time I left he was managing the Technical Support
Dept. for me and was responsible for almost 80 people. People like Dylan
would have struggled to get through the door of many organisations but he
had the most incredible potential. All he needed was the opportunity, with
some nurturing and support.
In my division in my previous company, we did all our own recruitment and
were the only area of the company not to use the Human Resources
Department. When we held recruitment open days to recruit large volumes of
Technical Support staff we did everything ourselves, from the advert to the
tests for the candidates. We cleared the space on the morning of the event,
I used my Customer Service staff as administrators and interviewers on the
day. The day started with breakfast and a meditation. I got everyone to
focus on what kind of day they wanted to have and the kind of technical
people they would like to work with (easy to talk to, helpful, etc.).
On our most successful day we tested over 500 candidates, gave every
one of them feedback and actually recruited, with formal offers, 43 new
Tech Support staff. Just imagine what could be achieved by organisations
with the right support both beforehand and at the interview stage.”
Chris Colgan - Development Coach
If you have something to say about this subject or anything else, do email
Jennifer: jennifer.hurley@lamontassociates.com
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