Rework ~ the future of work

Every so often you read a book and…”click” many things fall into place! Rework is one of those great books and I highly recommend that anyone who runs a business read it.

It’s credible

Although probably written with the wannabe get-rich-quick Internet entrepreneur in mind, it contains some of the best advice that anyone starting a business can get. Written in a no-nonsense down-to-earth style we are introduced to a new way of setting up, growing and running a successful business. It’s credible because the authors, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, have done it the way they tell it. They have created several innovative and commercially successful online tools, notably Basecamp. In ten years they’ve survived two recessions, the internet bubble bursting and shifts in business models. They reject the “real world” way to run a business!

Controversial wisdom

It’s unlikely that any MBA school is teaching what’s in this book and this is a shame for the future of entrepreneurship at a time when we need more new businesses and jobs. It’s full of insights and controversial wisdom such as: reject growth, budgets, meetings, boards of directors, external investors, salespeople and advertising. Now, I bet you’re starting to get real curious!

You don’t need an MBA

As someone with an MBA from a top business school I’m privileged to have learned so much about business and had the opportunity to apply this in a large multi-national. However, Rework is probably the most useful business book I’ve read in years and it should be on the reading list at any reputable business school. There are no theories. Just practical advice. It’s also consistent with what the early developers of NLP discovered when they modelled the strategies of successful people:

1. Have a clear, well-formed outcome

2. Take [massive] action

3. Use your sensory acuity and notice things

4. Be flexible, adapt based on your ongoing feedback

5. Operate from a physiology & psychology of excellence

It’s impossible

When I set up Wide Circle as a virtual business so many people told me that it’s impossible to build a business without an office and lots of full-time employees. Eight years later, Rework demonstrates that this is now the emerging model of how to build a successful business. In addition to the approach outlined in Rework, I apply the principles and skills of NLP daily. In fact I’m convinced if you only read Rework and trained as an NLP Master Practitioner you’ll have all the skill you need to be a successful business person. You can hire experts to do the specialist tasks.

Based on how well this book is written it wouldn’t surprise me if both of the authors had learned how to practice NLP.

Rework is a superb example of Thinking differently for a change…

Fear is often described as:

Fantasy

Experienced

As

Real

When you think of it this makes sense. Who knows anything about tomorrow? But, if we run a doomsday fantasy in our heads then we will also experience doomsday feelings ~ aka feelings of no confidence. So, I guess we need to get people to run more upbeat fantasies. Try love for a change…

Secondly, they say that this is about confidence. Last week I had a coffee with my good friend, John Niland, and John pointed out a very valuable insight. Confidence is not enough… often what is required is Courage.

Thanks John for Thinking Differently for a Change…

Given the events of the past few days, both on the financial markets and on the streets of the UK, and the uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East I believe it’s now time for political leaders to start Thinking Differently for a Change…

It’s worth noting Jobs’ remarkable ability to move from Big Picture to Detail and back. This is a key skill in thinking differently…

Do you trust me?

For a lot of people the past two years was a difficult time and some are still feeling the after-effects. The economic crisis would have been a significant emotional event for many people: those who lost their jobs or simply those who lived through this period in fear of losing their jobs or going out of business.

After we experience a significant emotional event we often reassess our values, or what’s important to us, and it’s quite clear that many people have been doing just that. This means that we shift our priorities in many areas of our lives and this may even result in changes in our personal relationships due to values clashes. If you’re experiencing anything like this in your personal life then perhaps you should call me to arrange a coaching session…

The Organization Dimension

Many organizations also experienced the equivalence of a significant emotional event. Revenues dropped off. Investments were cancelled. Salaries were cut. People were fired. Uncertainty and fear were rife. And, much more…

However, I wonder whether any corporations are going to do a re-evaluation of what’s important to them going forward. How many organizations are going to re-write their corporate value statements?

We continue to read that trust has been eroded and that organizations are once again going in pursuit of Employee Engagement to rebuild trust and re-engage their employees. I think it will take more than another Employee Engagement program to restore motivation.

Trust is a deeply held personal value for most people. It’s not just a work value. It goes deeper than that. Values act as key criteria and are the source of our up-front motivation and our post-event evaluation. When not satisfied we become demotivated, stressed and even show signs of depression. We speak of trust in everyday life and especially when it comes to relationships of any kind. I’m reminded of that famous song line: “The first cut is the deepest!”

Rethinking the marriage concept

So, I think most organizations are missing the point. Employees don’t want another expensive Employee Engagement program. This just smacks of insincerity! Guess what, sincerity is also a deeply held value for a lot of people. I realize that some of my friends who promote and make a living out of selling Employee Engagement programs may not be as happy with me after this statement!

I think the term Employee Engagement as a metaphor is fundamentally flawed and needs to be replaced with something more relevant to the 21st century. Most people who get engaged usually want to get married and live happily ever after. So, why don’t we have Employee Marriage programs.? After all many organizations create the impression that they want their employees to be wedded to their jobs, or not?! This is why they prefer to use the term “work-life balance” instead of “life-work balance”. When I ask groups of people in seminars to choose which phrase resonates most with them they always choose “life-work balance” with a demonstrable enthusiasm!

Thinking Differently for a change

I suggest that organizations need to start Thinking Differently about how they motivate their employees. So, I’ll stick my neck out here and propose that senior leaders seriously rethink their corporate values. However, this time they should stop the window dressing and get serious. This includes choosing values that connect with the workforce, that they’re sincere about and that they’re prepared to live up to.

Many people were pissed off by their employers not because of the recession or the need to let people go. They were upset because their leaders were not honest with them. They did not walk their talk. The banking industry probably stands out from the crowd in this regard.

So, I challenge organizational leaders to seriously consider explicitly incorporating values such as trust and honesty into their corporate value statements and then to have the integrity to live up to these values on a daily basis. I realize that I’m being controversial in proposing this. I also know this will be a stretch for many and may freak out the rest of you… but the debate must start somewhere!  ~:o)

If you are interested in learning more, you can join the debate taking place on the IABC Belgium ning.

What a week we had with our latest NLP Practitioners in Perth. The all-female class played full out and got amazing results. Not only did they transform their own lives in the process, they now have the skills to enable others to transform theirs.

It was a memorable moment at the end when they put their major goals on their future timelines and we could visibly see, hear and feel the changes that had taken place: calm, quiet confidence oozed and overflowed!

I’ll never forget then watching and listening to them singing along to Queen’s “We are the Champions” with their arms intertwined in a circle and tears of joy trickling down their cheeks… what a fantastic group of people!

The world is certainly a better place because these wonderful ladies will bring lights of hope to many who have not experienced it for a long time.

A fabulous example of thinking differently for a change…

The mind body connection is alive

Throughout the entire article the author talks about the mind and the body as though they were entirely separate.

“The biggest problem with the movement lies in the assumption that promoting psychological wellness is as axiomatically good as encouraging the physical sort.”

The link between the mind and body has been scientifically proven for some time now. I refer you to the work of two great researchers in this area, Deepak Chopra and David Hamilton. Not only does the research demonstrate the connection, it also shows conclusively that there is a link between Significant Emotional Events and serious illnesses such as Cancer and Heart Disease. Not releasing common negative emotions such as: anger, sadness, fear, hurt and guilt is not good for the body.

So, it seems that only good can come out of having your employer pay for additional wellness programs, particularly ones that enable staff to combat such things as stress. Remember the old adage, “healthy mind, healthy body” !

However, the author takes the view that employers will use these programs as a way of controlling employees and that it’s an invasion of privacy. S/he seems to be writing from a position of suspicion and fear, a negative emotion that is not good for the author’s health!

There is an easier answer…

The author’s viewpoint may be conditioned by a perception that people will be ‘forced’ to discuss the content of their problems. This of course would be a legitimate interpretation and a legacy of Freudian thinking!

NLP is more suitable than most conventional psycho-therapy approaches because it is content-free. In NLP we focus on the structure of the problem and don’t need to know any of the content of the problem to assist someone in ridding themselves of it. Remarkable and true! So, the employee is not compromised in any way as no “information” is passed on to anyone.

Timeline Therapy, in particular, is a fast and effective way to rid oneself of the causes of negative emotions.

Through a wide range of resources, NLP has been enabling people to live a happier, stress-free life because NLP gives power back to the individual to determine for themselves what to think, do and feel in any situation. In short, people feel they have more control over their lives because they have more choice.

The Economist publication tends to be written from a left-brain perspective that dismisses a lot of whole-brain approaches to anything. And, this is not the first time I’ve highlighted that it needs to start Thinking Differently for a Change!

How are you thinking about it now?

Learn more about NLP…

Michael Leahy, Coralia Catana, Anoushka Pegoff, Sarah Cronin, Bryce Redford, Sabine Grünewald, Gerry Murray, Seppe Quartier

Congratulations to our recent NLP Practitioner graduates, who are bringing great things into their lives and the lives of others with their new skills. Each in his and her own way is helping make the world a better place…

At a seminar earlier this year, Richard Bandler described NLP as “thinking on purpose”. When you come on our NLP trainings you’ll be Thinking Differently for a Change…. and you are also learning & doing many things.

How has NLP helped so many millions of people rid themselves of problems and have more fulfilling lives?

Find out more…