I have a somewhat heavy post about vulnerability brewing, but I’ve seen so much stuff online this morning from people revving up for the weekend, that I’ve put the vulnerability pot on the back burner to simmer a while. Instead, today I’m going old school 1977 to share with you one of the punchiest, shortest and best songs about the weekend I’ve ever heard. 48 Hours, by The Clash, which also happens to contain one of my fave lines of all time, namely ‘Monday’s coming like a jail on wheels’. Love it! Have a great weekend folks.
Blog
Stuck in the Slow Lane
I had the misfortune to go to a really crappy meeting first thing in the morning last Monday. As I left the house at half past insane o’clock I could not foresee that the meeting was going to be as crappy as it turned out, but I was pretty sure the journey into London would be. Sure enough, the train was packed, the bus was packed, and the tube was packed too. Rush hour sucks.
As I was jostled from raised armpit to raised armpit, and from book cover to scowling face, I started to dream in an attempt to escape the drudgery. My mind wandered back to the few golden weeks of the Olympics and Paralympics in London last year. We were fortunate to spectate at the games a few times and as usual I was in and out of London for work too, but I did not dream of sporting endeavour as I reflected on this time. No, instead I dreamed of emptier trains, buses and tubes, and easier journeys.
In the run up to the 2012 games there were significant fears that the London transport system wouldn’t cope. The fears were misplaced, and even though during that golden period of sporting excellence, the transport networks of London carried record extra numbers of passengers, for a few short weeks, getting around London felt easier. No longer did we feel compelled to jam ourselves in the tube and struggle to our desks for a 09:00 start. Contingency plans were made, and something approaching a city wide flexible working dream briefly became a reality. Businesses worked smarter.
The population of London continues to grow so we need to manage transport flows better before the whole network disappears up its own proverbial arse sometime soon. We have the technology which should facilitate more smarter working, so why aren’t businesses responding more smartly? Among all the advances we’ve seen in recent generations, how we work is stuck pretty much at the back of the line. In fact, it’s not even at the back of the line, how we work is sitting all alone in the corner of the playground of advancement, sulking and wondering why no one wants to play anymore.
A smarter approach to flexible working = an easier journey to and from work. Is there anyone who wouldn’t appreciate that? We know we can do it – we’ve seen it happen………….. and as suddenly as it had begun, my dream of a better journey to and from work faded. I was back in reality being spewed from the underground station as if no more than a tiny particle in a huge pile of human vomit. Sorry, but that’s just how rush hour and our approach to work in the 21st century sometimes makes me feel.
Creative Leadership – Fishing for Ideas
I spent a fascinating morning with an enthusiastic management team last week, workshopping conversations and ideas around improving sharing and communicating. By way of a little context, this team don’t see each other very often. They are spread all over the globe, and although the distances between people, both physical and in time, make getting together a challenge, this point was simply observed by them, not put up as an ‘excuse’.
At one stage in our time together, someone drew a picture on the whiteboard. Now this was a fairly crappy whiteboard, a fairly crappy pen, and without wishing to cause offence, the drawing is unlikely to make it to the Royal Academy any time soon, Summer Exhibition or not. It was a simple sketch of a boat, on a lake, and some fish. The boat represented transition. The lake was huge, so big we couldn’t really see land after we’d sailed a little while, and the fish in the lake, they are the ideas.
A few weeks ago I wrote about Sketchcognition, which is in essence using sketching to figure stuff out. This sketch, hastily scribbled on a whiteboard, has begun the process of fishing for ideas, and we moved from the picture to thinking about people in the boat, about the journey, the distance and the fish, and about how we might catch some of them.
The drawing was copied onto a piece of paper so we have a record of it, and it is in the process of being sent to various points on the globe, along with a few fish, the accompanying ideas. Pencils and paper were passed around to take away before we broke for lunch, and though we didn’t eat fish at the lunch break, the team has the opportunity to sketch plenty more of them now.
This process is simple. Anyone can do it, even all those people I meet who say to me ‘I can’t draw, I’m not an artist’.
In early July I’m launching ‘I’m Not An Artist’ which is a one day exploration combining basic art and drawing techniques. The workshop is all about creating excitement and progress, accelerating and embracing failure in order to succeed, and seeing work through an artistic lens to aid problem solving. We will explore a broad range of techniques designed to help you understand and experience creativity, and importantly, apply them to your work. Watch this space.