I ran a load of courses this year covering my own take on what people management is all about. They were very well received. (There's a lot to be said for occasionally stripping things right back to first principles – especially when, as I suspect, most people have never actually been shown the first priniciples.) Very well received, despite me breaking nearly every rule of training. In essence, it was a stand-up routine by a fat bloke with a flip-chart.
And I'm in the sort of place where I'm pretty relaxed about making the sort of mistakes that are the stuff of amateur dramatics and village halls. When I was young and oh so keen to make an impression these would have thrown me off kilter, would have made me try too hard, would have hurt. Now, not so much. I enjoy them. In particular I enjoyed the question “Who's your team?”
At the start of the course I ask the group to write down the answers to four key questions. At pressure points in the training I return to these questions, get their answers and weave the ensuing learning points seamlessly and powerfully into the day. That's the idea anyway. But the first time I ran the course I asked the question wrong. Instead of what I meant to say, I asked “who's your team?” which won't win any awards for clarity.
But the answers were great. Some were obvious, some were where I was leading them, but some were surreal, some were joyous and some were bonkers. So on each course thereafter I continued to phrase the question this way. I won't tell you what the real question should be, nor what the answer should be. You have to pay me for that. What I will say is that my own answer has proven ridiculously powerful at all levels from team leader to board level.
But that's not really my point here. I'm not trying to big myself up. I'm just suggesting it as a question for any trainer/coach/facilitator/manager out there. Try asking it. See what happens...
And I'm in the sort of place where I'm pretty relaxed about making the sort of mistakes that are the stuff of amateur dramatics and village halls. When I was young and oh so keen to make an impression these would have thrown me off kilter, would have made me try too hard, would have hurt. Now, not so much. I enjoy them. In particular I enjoyed the question “Who's your team?”
At the start of the course I ask the group to write down the answers to four key questions. At pressure points in the training I return to these questions, get their answers and weave the ensuing learning points seamlessly and powerfully into the day. That's the idea anyway. But the first time I ran the course I asked the question wrong. Instead of what I meant to say, I asked “who's your team?” which won't win any awards for clarity.
But the answers were great. Some were obvious, some were where I was leading them, but some were surreal, some were joyous and some were bonkers. So on each course thereafter I continued to phrase the question this way. I won't tell you what the real question should be, nor what the answer should be. You have to pay me for that. What I will say is that my own answer has proven ridiculously powerful at all levels from team leader to board level.
But that's not really my point here. I'm not trying to big myself up. I'm just suggesting it as a question for any trainer/coach/facilitator/manager out there. Try asking it. See what happens...
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