You are currently browsing the monthly archive for August, 2007.
The latest book I am reading is about “Managing the speed of change” by Daryl R. Conner. Amazon lists it here.
An old friend I met on an NLP course recommended it to me in 2003 and I bought it then. Never looked at it until I remembered the book when I met up with him for the first time just a few weeks ago in London. So I thought, it is about time to read a book about change, change management and the speed of change.
I definately like this book - it describes the structure of change quite detailed, Connor talks about the Resilience that is supported by Synergy, Nature, Process, Roles, Resistance, Commitment and Culture. So dependent on those 7 support patterns, one takes change on easier or not.
When he comes to describe roles he talks about sponsors, agents and target. The sponsors are defined as the one who has the power to sanction or legitimize change. The agent is responsible for making the change and the target being the one in the group who must actually change. He adds Advocates, people who want to achieve change but have not the power to sanction it.
Depending on those roles the change process develops better or not….really, if you look at any situation where you had to change, I am 100% positive you can identify those roles. Also, very interesting is of course the behaviour and culture point of view. Being German working in an international environment I can see that cultural differences lead to behavioural (or are part of cultural) differences which then can lead to tension, misunderstanding and people not taking on the roles they were meant to. No surprise that there are people who focus purely on intercultural change or change in intercultural teams - training and developing those team by understanding their needs. A fascinating topic, don’t you think?
More soon.
After 2 day of fasting one forgets about hunger. I noticed that I did feel less energetic but having more time not to go shopping or to cook etc. makes up for it. Also, I can sleep so much better. When did I last sleep over 10 hours? My body can relax totally as there is no food or digestion to concentrate on or spend energy on. After all the digestion is the main energy consumer in the human body.
I am curious how it would go to fast for a whole week? As much as I am tempted to do so, I am not sure whether we live in an environment for it? Just imagine you fast at work and have to go to the loo every 30 minutes? And taking holidays to fast - maybe…. - then again in other religions it works to not eat for longer. Maybe fasting is something we should integrate in our western lifestyle but we are all to set to forget about the natural resources, the natural processes and ideas that were passed down from generations.
Today is my last day of fast. Vegetable juice (I hate it) but you can feel how your body is getting cleaner and emptier. It is a feeling that sets energy free too. And another very positive effect is to use the time of inner cleaning and clean your environment too. I already have a bag for charity and still have the cupboards to clean today.
I am however looking forward to a simple chicken soup tonight or tomorrow morning ,-)
What is fasting? Wikipedia and an alternative medicine site explains it in very good detail, also with all the religious background.
More interesting is the question I was asked at work “why do you fast”?
Sure, first of all it is time to lose some weight. But the likelihood of putting on more afterwards is there and therefore my main motivation is not to shed some pounds. Would be nice though.
I do not go months without food or drink but go for a 3 day fast. First day only water, 2nd day only fruit juices and water, 3rd day only vegetable juices and water. A friend recommended that to me.
“In natural medicine, fasting is seen as a way of cleansing the body of toxins, dead or diseased tissues, and giving the gastro-intestinal system a rest. Such fasts are either water-only, or consist of fruit and vegetable juices.”, Wikipedia
Hopefully that sums it up better than I could. It gives you rest, it takes up energy, it cleans your body and get rid of all the “crap” in your body.
You can achieve a detox also by changing your diet which I did already and will continue to do. However, fasting is also for the mind. It is about finding peace, de-clutter your life, rest and think about what you like to do and what you like to change. Reflection is a big part of fasting. And, if you did not have enough willpower then you couldn’t do it in the first place.
I am very proud of my partner who is fasting for the first time. She was very tempted to give up but together we manage. It is only 3 days and then we slowly get back to normal, a break-fast meal and possibly one glass of nice wine. And back to our healthy diet because otherwise it would not make sense to do it in the first place if you decided to eat “Schnitzel” and “Sausage” once you finished the fasting.
Have a peaceful and reflective bank holiday weekend!
fasting buddha
I did not notice that Dan Millman wrote more than this book. I finished it and would like to add some more comments but also I ordered his other 2nd book; Millman wrote a book which takes out bits and pieces of his book and then discusses them. Would he write a blog for me?
Guess not, as he has his own blog. Visit his website: http://www.danmillman.com/ - a lot of questions are answered there. And, looking at his page, that is something where I would love to end up in years. Inspiring people, giving advise, writing books and make a living from it. My respect, Mr. Millman!
Lets get back to the book:
Once you make your choice, do it with all your spirit. Don’t be like the evangelist who thought about praying while making love to his wife, and thought about making love to his wife while praying.
I love this rather common phrase, because deep down it shows commitment. You either do it or you do not. You do not take on a job you cannot do or would not try everything possible to finish it, would you? Do not do anything lighthearted, rather not do it at all!
Then Millman talks about Happiness and Money. Which I like because I would love to have millions of GBP in my bank account however happiness is more important. The difference between being wealthy and being rich.
Happiness = Satisfaction / Desire
“If you have enough money to satisfy your desires, Dan, you are rich. But there are two ways to be rich: You can earn, inherit, borrow, beg, or steal enough money to meet expensive desires; or you can cultivate a simple lifestyle of few desires; that way you always have more than enough money.”
Whatever you desire in life, if you keep it small (denominator in the above equation) then the happiness gets greater by same satisfaction - that reminds me of my maths class at university. Or, you have lots of money and can satisfy a lot. But the problem will be you have more money (increase in satisfaction), your desire grows and then happiness does not grow. So if you have a lot of money try to keep your desires small.
I reckon Dan is right to keep your desires simple and modest and you are easier pleased ergo your happiness is higher. It makes sense - the less things to worry about, the less things to aim or strive for, the less to worry, the more to live for!
While it is difficult to just pick out some of Dan’s quotes there is another thought I enjoyed.
“You do have a terminal illness: it is called birth.”
So often you hear people that have cancer for instance and say “I make every day as nice as possible and live it as if it was my last. I have nothing to lose.” - We all are in that situation. We only have around 75 years on average on this planet. Let us all make the most of it, the most of NOW. The power of NOW. Why wait to make decisions and wait to be something we can be today. Start changing your life today, there might not be a tomorrow!
Dan describes very vividly at the end of the book how death appears and what happens to your body. It is eaten away and becomes dust. End of story.
Not quite because that is “just” your body. You live in it, you nourish it and vice versa but at the end of the day it is your thought and your soul that makes YOU. Luckily I have never experienced it but if someone has an accident that results in a body damage. Sure, life will never be the same, but the person stays the same. The body changes but the mind does not. One stays oneself; if you lose an arm through an accident you still are the same person.
I leave you with those thoughts for the weekend. It is important to understand that the conscious and the mind explains what you feel, how you feel, what you like and wish for. But the body has little or no influence. One could go as far to say that the body is just a protection around our thoughts and keeps them protected.
We decide with our mind, willpower and motivation what we like to do.
I tell you about fasting tomorrow.
As I read along there is another passage in the book:
“I’ve just introduced a little more energy into your body than you’re used to,” he explained. It will accelerate the healing processes. It burns only where you have knots. If you were free of obstruction - if your mind was clear, your heart open, and your body free of tension, you’d experience the energy as an indescribable pleasure - better than sex. You’d think you were in heaven, ….
Wow! The first part reminds me of taking homeopathic remedies and getting better after only a few hours because my body is getting energy to accelerate the healing process in a more or less “natural” way. It focuses on the illness only, similar to some Chinese medicine I suppose.
So if we are free from obstruction - any illnesses, any worries, any thoughts - then our mind is clear and our heart is open. There is nothing we have to worry about, nothing to think about and we would in fact be open for anything: love, peace, happiness, possibly enlightenment.
If we came to this situation and did not feel any tension what so ever I could be convinced that the energy flow in our body would be a pleasure and joy. We would feel great, energized and powerful, happy and … as Millmann says “felt indescribable pleasure”.
But better than sex…..
I suppose if you clear all thoughts and focus on the energy flow in your body, then the thought of sex is gone too. But maybe that is just a male thinking and there is a stronger energy flow than at an orgasm. Wikipedia says: An orgasm (sexual climax) is [...] characterized by intense physical pleasure, controlled by the involuntary, or autonomic, nervous system.
Would that mean that there is an energy flow which has a more intense physical pleasure than an orgasm and might not be controlled by our nervous system? That is a fascinating idea - maybe similar to having an orgasm that goes on and on?
At least Wikipedia now explained why I am getting so tired too ,-) …… - click here.
Definately time to go to bed.
“The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one.”
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Whilst reading the above book, after recovering from a flu-like cold, I came across a nice story which I like to reproduce here. I am sure Dan Millmann would not mind me copying this passage and publish it here:
An old man and his son worked on a small farm, with only one horse to pull the plow. One day, the horse ran away.
“How terrible,” sympathized the neighbours. “What bad luck.”
“Who knows whether it is bad luck or good luck,” the farmer replied.
A week later, the horse returned from the mountains leading five wild mares into the barn.
“What wonderful luck!” said the neighbours.
“Good luck? Bad luck? Who knows?” answered the old man.
The next day, the son, trying to tame one of the horses, fell and broke his leg.
“How terrible. What bad luck!”
“Good luck? Bad luck?”
The army came to all the farms to take the young men for war. The farmer’s son was of no use to them, so he was spared.
“Good? Bad?”
This story fascinates me as it shows in a simple way that there are always two sides to look at. A situation has its positive sides and negative sides. A car accident can lead to you missing a plane that could have crashed if you were on board. Things in life happen that might prevent us to get into worse situations although they look like being bad situations themselves. There is always something that could be worse and something that could be better.
Everything has a purpose - is said in the book. And it is up to us to make the best out of it. Sometimes the worst situations bring out the best in people. It is not by accident that people who are pushed to their boundaries usually perform the best.
Whatever you do in life there are different views to it. A bad situation could prevent something worse. A good situation easily turn into a bad one. And a bad situation can turn into something good. Never forget, it also depends on your map, your territory, of what you make of things.
Have a good night.
It is not always easy to find a new topic. I got the man flu - a rather bad cold - which tied me down all weekend. Am not feeling the greatest I have to say. But, I feel obliged to write a few lines. But what about?
Maybe about the latest book I am reading, “the peaceful warrior“, or the the book that changes lives. It feels to me as if I had heard that story before and maybe I have seen the movie years ago. A friend recently recommended me the book and what it says in the beginning I found quite interesting: “one has one or more teachers in life outside school/university“.
And yes, that is quite interesting for me to look back. Teachers or mentors. People who give you guidance. There are of course my parents, my brother if I allowed him to because he was older, my grandparents on both sides, my friends’ parents surely, my teachers in school and university, my friends to a certain extend, my “big-brother”, the porter in halls of residence, my wife, my managers, my work colleagues…..- I guess I could extend this list indefinitely. Where do one start to call someone a teacher and at what point does this person become a mentor?
I suppose for me I surely learn a lot from anyone. The person selling me my train ticket, the car salesman, the “Big Issue” seller in London, the police at the accident scene, my friends. But, for someone to become a mentor, a guardian, that is different. A guardian angel of course is something I believe in, imaginary, non touchable.
But a real life guardian (angel), mentor or coach - latter - is the one that makes the difference to my life. He gives me guidance without teaching, without being patronizing. Someone who lets me do mistakes and directs me rather than tells me what to do. That is where good leadership differentiates from bad leadership - where dictatorship differs from democracy with a leader - if that makes sense. The idea that someone is a mentor means for me that this person has a big influence on one’s life. In small steps or big leaps.
I for instance have a few mentors that show up in my life every now and then and give me “food for thought” on how to continue the journey. Because they are stepping into my life now and then they evaluate the situation thoroughly, invest time to question and find good guidance.
Whilst the mentors who are there permanently do not take the time to catch up but give you direct advice rather than letting you come up with your own thoughts and ideas - your own direction in life.
I guess it comes down to being a teacher versus a coach. A good coach in my opinion is not necessarily a good teacher, is more of a “non-teacher” - but usually s/he is a good manager and leader. Whilst a good teacher can be a better by being a good coach and teacher, combining the best of two worlds for the job of a teacher.
For tonight that is a nice ending. If you find a good coach, it takes you from A to B. Like the coach as a bus. The coach gives you guidance but you have to put the effort in to get there. The “coach route” is set out for you, with you coming up with your own idea on how to move from A to B. It empowers you, motivates you and gives you self-esteem and self-confidence.
A teacher just seems to tell you what is right or wrong and you just have to swallow it. If you believe it, if it is on your path and whether you want to go from A to B, that does not matter.
Have a safe journey.
I added Google’s AdSense. Not sure if it makes “sense” and if enough people going to click on the adverts for me to make 100 $ but it is worth a try I guess.
I promised you more about organisational behaviour. It has been quiet this week as I took a few days off. I relaxed a lot and made new plans on how to make myself even happier and more satisfied in life. So I set up my own coaching practise in my head that I need to follow. With enough willpower I will succeed to reach my aims.
Also, I discovered a new coach who has a fantastic newsletter. I am sure she does not mind me placing a link here: http://www.creatingease.com/ - Her name is Shola Arewa.
Not that I am lazy but I found an essay I wrote on motivation during my MBA. Here is the conclusion from my essay and also my comments after almost 3 years in work:
From the discussion one learned that motivation is dependent on cultural differences, on the one hand geographically, but more importantly, differences within corporate culture and one might say personal culture or values. The personality of the employee and the way s/he is looked at and lead by the management plays a major role as well.
This is surely true. Cultural differences, personality etc. plays a major rule on how to motivate people.
However, in the case of knowledge based organisations it was identified that monetary rewards are not as essential for motivation as in the manufacturing industry simply out of the understanding that payment is comparable high anyway, giving her/him certain security. But also, the employee has to be assured that her/his job is secure as well.
Whilst I think that is true in some ways no one would work without being paid. However, it is not only the value of the money but, and that comes next, the job satisfaction - latter one probably accounts for more than 70%.
From the next level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs one looks at personal development and self-fulfilment. In order to meet these needs employees have to do a job that meets their own personal interests and goals which might even be self-chosen. They have to have responsibility for their actions and they need to get tasks done that lead to a common goal (for employers and employees). The competent employee needs to see the value s/he creates and, additionally, see the goal s/he is working for. Therefore, some of the motivation is dependent on matching an employee’s personality and values as well as interest in the job with the company’s goals and policies.
I could not put it into better words today. Of course it is common sense to have a job you like and being matched to your values, your knowledge and your skills - but do a lot of employers do so? Who really empowers their employees?
There has to be a value of and in ones life and a chance to express oneself. A good work-life balance and the appreciation of the social needs of an employee are also essential. If the work leads to a stressed and unbalanced life outside work, one will not create any motivation at all.
I also wrote an essay about work-life balance. Many companies forget about it. With me having a blackberry for instance I am available all day and night. However, I chose to switch it off over the weekends unless it is a critical time of my job. Some people cannot do that and feel stressed about it. Being available seems to be stressful for some; I know of someone who went on holidays to an African country purely for the reason that his blackberry would not work there.
As a recommendation one should reassure to pay an employee enough to keep up her/his good work in order to have her/him not worry about “living” in general terms. In order to further create an effective and motivated worker, one should try to match the job according to the person’s goals and values and not the other way around. One has to give the employee the power to design her/his own work place, participate in the goal setting and conditions which leads to a closer match of job/company and personal needs. This results in a happier, more motivated and, therefore, more efficient worker.
One of the main keys seems to be the involvement in goal setting and flexibility to reach that goal, matching personal resources and values with job design.
I leave it with that for today. How many of you have a job in such a perfect condition? Would you be able or willing to create one if you were the employer?
Have a good start into the week.
Another Sunday but something is different - it is sunny outside, almost too hot and isn’t it the first ever real sunny Sunday this year in the UK? Lovely.
Das Wort zum Sonntag - the word of Sunday (? not sure if that would be a good translation) or better the lecture of Sunday.
I have been thinking a lot about how much is going on in my and other people’s life. What are we here for and why? The path of life, destination and sense. Does it make sense?
Of course it does. Discussions with various people about “should you change a bad situation” in order to get a better or should you stick to it - at least for a while - to find out whether you can solve it and - if you can - learn anything from it. Are you meant to be in the situation to learn something about yourself?
What about the saying of “we are already where we are supposed to be and whether the situation around us changes, we are meant to be in the situation where we are and have all necessary tools to live in our life” - then this means it does not matter where we work, live, play as we are ourselves and the outside does not matter?
It is a tough call - a call I would not be able to make - but what are those teachings and ideas want to tell us? Surely not indifference?
From my point of view we are born into a life that was chosen by us but which we influence through our own motivation and energy. Latter reflects back to the Secret. So therefore coming into a “bad situation” might be reflected down to yourself as an energy you sent out to come into that situation, a fear, being afraid of. Looking back in my own life I could show you at few examples, try it out for yourself.
However, if you are in those situations you have asked for yourself - conscious or unconscious - then you are there to deal with it to solve a problem within you. As you need to get your energy right inside you in order to get it corresponding on the outside, a positive world where we like to be.
We are happy when for everything inside us there is a corresponding something outside us.
(William Butler Yeats)
Ergo we can conclude that our energy direct us in life and get us to the point where we are supposed to be; negative situations to learn from and positive situations to enjoy. I would go as far and conclude that if we are treating other people with respect, love and happiness at all times, even if they are rude and bad to us, we gain more energy from it and make a difference. Not at least to us. And maybe that is where the thought plays in that “we are already where we are” - because if we are happy within us and know where we want to go and where we feel best, then the outside becomes less important, doesn’t it?
Have a great, sunny, Sunday.
I had a discussion last night with a friend about organisational behaviour; also it reflects some issues I heard at another place too.
Looking at behaviour at the workplace I went back to my “handbook” - Handbook of HR Management Practice, by Michael Armstrong. I read it with ambiguity during my MBA degree. It highlights a lot of facts of characteristics of people.
Probably I could write an essay about it, possibly using my own work as an example. This I try truly to avoid. In a nut shell the chapter talks about
- individual differences - here it highlights values, expectations, self belief and goes into detail of ability, intelligence, personality, background and culture, gender and race.
- attitudes
- influences on behaviour
- attribution theory
- orientation
- roles
Lets summarize some bits we were discussing last night. If the expectations in a team differ and the personalities are really different, then how can a team work? What about building relationships at work if you are from diverse backgrounds. What about team coaching? ,-)
Also, focusing on influences on behaviour. Armstrong points out the role characteristics, job characteristics such as autonomy and challenge. The leader behaviours which have an influence on the group and their group characteristics. Ever noticed that if the boss is doing something everyone else thinks it is OK too? I will highlight the situation in regards to owner managers at some point as this is something of particular interest to me.
Roles: the part to be played by individuals in fulfilling their job requirements - is that a comprehensive summary? I am not sure to be honest. My role might be to sell but just by selling I do not fulfill my job requirements, do I? Then I would not be satisfied and happy, ergo would not fulfil my role? I might fulfil my job but not my role - is a role not self-defined as well?
Armstrong even suggests to differentiate job description and role definition. What about the psychological contract - if a team of people have different psychological contracts with their employer - how does that effect the team work, team performance? All of that comes back to performance, role modelling and expectation handling - leading to personal development, training and career management.
As you can say an almost endless topic. Highly interesting. Will surely come back to some more HR topics later on.
ballueder
Recent Comments