A lesson in how not to sell courtesy of a lady who said she was from BT

Had a really curious call this afternoon from a lady who said she was from BT. We use BT as our broadband provider and she said that she was calling to offer us a deal on the new BT Infinity service which it appears is now available in our area. Problem 1 was that the place where she was calling from was so noisy that it was difficult to hear what she was saying over the background hubbub. Then she started to ask me questions about which calling plan I was on, whether I made many calls during the day or whether I mainly used the phone in the evening. In other words she was asking me to describe in BT's product language what my service was. Stuck me that this is asking quite a lot of your customers - much better I would think to talk to them in their language rather than yours. I expressed surprise that having phoned me she didn't have such details to hand. At this point she cited the data protection act as the reason why she couldn't know which service I had, my calling profile etc! Most odd. Companies clearly can know about their customers and have discussions with them about their service/ account etc so I'm left a bit bemused as to why she would have been told the root problem was the data protection act. At this point part of me even began to question whether she was indeed from BT but in any event it seemed like a good time to say goodbye and return to playing a game of Rameses' Pyramid with my daughters.

It's not always about leadership

I recently came across this video on YouTube which suggests that we shouldn't neglect the importance of the "first follower" in the success of a movement or change. I like the idea that it's not always about leadership but that people being willing to step forward and be the first follower are also key. We tend to focus a lot of learning on "Leadership" and this video has made me wonder if perhaps there shouldn't be more on "following" as well. As they put it so eloquently in the video ...."When you find a lone nut doing something great have the guts to be the first person to stand up and join in." How many times in an organisation do we recognise and reward these key "first followers"? I suspect the answer is - not enough.

My first Geocaching Travel Bug

I was recently over in America visiting IBM's Learning Centre in Armonk (New York State).   I stayed one night at the Holiday Inn Express in Fishkill and visited the geocache  in the Van Wyke Homestead
where I found Sparky the travel bug.

 

Sparky was keen to travel around and see National Parks so I thought he could come back with me and see some of the lovely National Parks in the UK.

So he joined me on a British Airways flight back from Newark to Heathrow

Last week we tried to place him in a cache but it turned out to be a bit small and damp - definitely not the quality of accommodation that Sparky had become used to on his travels so far.  Today however we headed up onto Twyford Down and the "Bear Necessities of Life" Cache where he will have the company of lots of bears until he moves on to his next destination.  

I've subscribed to his profile and will now watch with great interest to see where he gets to next.

Bye bye Sparky - it was good having you stay with us :-)

New Wine - Central and South West #NWCSW11

Today has been a day of unpacking, sorting, putting away etc following a fantastic week at this year's New Wine Conference - which marked for us a decade of attending this annual event.

I spent the week working as part of the medical team - one of the 1000+ volunteers who work on various teams to make the event happen.  Overall attendance at the event was probably somewhere over 12,000 people!

I had worked as a first aider on the medical team 2 years ago and it was great to catch up with some familiar faces and meet some new people this year.  The team is mix of first aiders, nurses, paramedics, doctors who come together to pool their experience and provide medical cover for the event.

The New Wine CSW event is held at the Royal Bath and West Showground near Shepton Mallet and it is a sobering thought that the number of people attending probably comfortably exceeds the local population. Clearly, were the delegates to try and access the existing healthcare provision in the area it would be swamped so the aim of the medical team is to provide a wide range of care while people are at the event.  This results in a medical centre on site that is a cross between First Aid room, GP Surgery and A&E Department which makes for a very interesting mix.

As a First Aider I clearly lack the depth of medical skill and knowledge of the professionals on the team but  none the less it was an intensely satisfying experience and an opportunity to use some of the limited skills I do have and gain some new ones.  It's also true that medical skills aren't always what's needed.  For example, being by the main door and welcoming people into the medical centre, finding out why they've come, capturing the right information and arranging for them to be triaged by one of the nurses.

At last year's New Wine I decided to set myself the target of reading through all 66 books of the Bible over the next year.   I found a reading plan  that nicely themed each day of the week and set about following that - I'm delighted to report that I finished the task on the first day of this year's New Wine :-)

I think this was the first New Wine where I've seen a Twitter hashtag advertised - #NWCSW11.  Setting up a quick search on Twitter enabled me to see a range of posts from people at the event which was great.  Also led me to a blog which has a good mix of entries that capture some of the essence of the event.

As ever it was a great, enjoyable, spirit filled and uplifting week - hard to imagine that we won't be back next year.

Leadership & Governance - Making an Impact

Last Friday I attended the Hampshire Local Conference for school governors at Winchester's Holiday Inn Hotel. The audience was a mix of primary school and secondary school governors with me and my fellow secondary governors definitely in the minority.

The Deputy Director of Children's services opened the meeting with some comments relating to the county's interaction and support of schools plus some thoughts on key challenges and priorities for the future,

The rest of the day was given over to Liz Cross who talked on the wide ranging topic of  "Leading in Challenging & Changing Times".

Liz is a founding partner in The Connectives and their website says that she is "known for bringing real break through thinking and fresh energy in her strategic work with organisations across voluntary, private and public sectors." and on the basis of what she delivered at the conference I can well believe that this is true.

Drawing on her extensive personal experience in governance she took us through considerations of the political, social and economic challenges facing governors; some models of leadership; considerations of different leadership styles and their impact; influence models; approaches to measurement and much more.

A big recurring theme through the day was the importance of partnerships and thinking more broadly than just the school gates.   Students only spend a comparatively small percentage of their waking hours in school and a lot of what happens outside school hours will influence their educational achievement.   Challenging question then is what are we doing as governors to drive increased partnership with other organisations that could help to deliver stronger outcomes?

There was much to take from the day but for me a few of the key points were :-

Importance of not getting distracted by other people's agendas and keep focused on what matters. In the midst of a discussion on another circular on a topic you didn't know you needed to know about it can be difficult to keep that focus on strategic outcomes we desire.

Everything you do has an impact and need to consider how to get the best out of people not write them off. Martin Luther King's famous speech "I have a dream" didn't then go on to say but I'm worried the rest of you aren't up to it!  Rather it sold a vision and invited people to be part of it.  In all of our interactions as governors we need to find opportunities to build up those we interact with - be they staff, pupils or other governors. Find something positive to say and you can have a real impact.  Nice quote from Rosamund Stone Zander "When leadership is defined not as a position you hold, but as a way of being, you discover you can lead from where ever you are." Don't underestimate the power we have to influence one child, one conversation, one community at a time.

The ability to keep on learning is key - what are we doing to ensure that the school turns out children who can continue to acquire skills and knowledge over the rest of their lives?  What do we think the world is going to be like in the future and are we preparing our children for it adequately?

Are we spending time discussing the right things?  What items get discussed with the governing body and which items are just acted on by the school's leaders?  Do we spend time talking about the decisions where it is clear that there is only one real option or do we spend time on the 49/51 decisions that are more finely balanced.   When there is no other choice why do we spend time discussing it?
When facing a big decision do we consider in what way it helps or hinders the attainment of the vision we have for the school?

Discussion on the question of whether it's a good idea to have students on the governing body. Why not have election at the end of the year to choose a couple of students from the top year group who will come back next year and be part of the governing body. Doing this removes challenge of having them take part in decisions that affect them directly (ie as current pupils) but at the same time capitalises on their recent experience as a "user of the service".

All in all a very good day with lots of thought provoking discussion.   If you you are a governor and ever find yourself invited to an event where Liz is speaking I'd encourage you to go - I don't think you'll regret it.

TEDx Oxbridge

On Saturday I attended TEDx Oxbridge which was being hosted at the Said Business School in Oxford.

Registration from 8:15am made for an unusually early, but completely worth it, start to my Saturday - not as early though as the group attending from Cambridge.


The wide ranging talks were split into 4 sets each of around 90 minutes. Between the sessions there was plenty of time to mingle and talk with the other attendees.  A drinks reception, dinner in local restaurant and after event party at Oxford Town Hall provided even more scope for conversation.  (As an aside I wasn't sure that I'd been to the town hall before but when we got there I recognised it as the location for an inter college Ballroom dancing competition that I took part in almost exactly 25 years previously !).

TED itself is a nonprofit organisation devoted to "Ideas Worth Spreading".   I can't recommend too highly spending time on their website viewing some of the TEDTalks.   The TEDx label signifies a locally arranged event run under licence from TED.   Living up to the quality and breadth of topics that get covered in a TED conference was going to be a tough challenge for the TEDx organisers but they did a fantastic job and the range of topics covered was absolutely huge.

I have quite a few notes from the day and links that I want to go and investigate further - hopefully a few more blog posts will follow in due course.   In the meantime if you want to get a flavour of the day you could have a look at the @tedxoxbridge stream on Twitter or just search for the #tedxoxb hashtag.

Manchester Business School's "Dean's Dinner"

Yesterday evening I had the great pleasure of attending a "Dean's Dinner" event in London.

The event was organised by the Manchester Business School and was hosted by De Vere's at their rather impressive Holborn Bars location, formerly the home of Prudential Insurance.

The event brought together about a dozen people from a range of organisations with a shared interest in Leadership Development.

Over the course of a very tasty dinner we got to chat and then listen to our "Provocateur" for the evening - Prof Chris Bones who is Professor of Creativity and Leadership at Manchester Business School and former Dean of the Henley Business School.

In a talk that focused more on asking questions to get us thinking than providing prescriptive solutions he highlighted some of the challenges he sees with leadership, especially in large organisations.   He has recently published a book "The Cult of the Leader : a Manifesto for more authentic business" on this area in which he describes the problems and identifies areas for change that will be needed.  I think I can safely say that I have never previously heard L'Oreal, Mary Poppins, Dumbledore and Peter Drucker all get a mention in the same talk.

After some time for general discussion on the issues raised it was time to say goodbye and head for home - and in my case the mystery of why the 22:39 train from Waterloo was so full.   Clearly it was reasonable for me to be traveling at that hour but what was everyone else doing there :-)  One-off or always that full I wonder?

All in all a great evening, met some new people (and reconnected with someone who used to work for IBM but who I'd not seen in many years) and heard some new ideas/ broadened my thinking on leadership development.

My thanks to Manchester Business school for the invite, De Vere for hosting it and Prof Bones for the talk.