The MAP is not the territory

I love maps, always have. From my first tentative adventures with a compass as a child to qualifying as a Mountain Leader they have helped me make sense of the world. From life saving maps such as the work of John Snow around cholera to the current visualisations of “big data” – I’m fascinated. So when I was given the opportunity to be part of an elite “blog squad” for an event called “MAP” I obviously leapt at it.

I think I misunderstood.

Apparently MAP also stands for the Midlands Area Partnership of the CIPD, (Ok maybe I did know that really) and I’ve been invited to their Annual Event (8th October) which is all about Building Workplaces for the Future. I won’t lie, when I saw that title my heart sank a little. In my experience we haven’t even got workplaces fit for current purpose and I wondered if it would be all about the rise of the robots etc etc. However, I’m pleased to say that the programme looks really good and grounded in the here and now. Let me run you through what I’m looking forward to and why.

First up is a “Brexit Breakfast – an early bird session about the impact that Brexit (if it ever happens) might make to employment law and the very real problems that the current limbo situation is raising. I’m looking forward to a clear, no nonsense summary and I’ll aim to blog about this whilst registration is going on.

After that it’s Peter Cheese, the top man at the CIPD and he’s doing the keynote with Tim Jones from Network Rail. Being an ex-London Underground employee I’m excited that we will get an industrial perspective, not just white collar workers. Apparently some of the content will be around the recent overhaul of Birmingham New Street station and having got lost there recently I’d like to know what it took to make such a major transformation happen.

After that we are breaking in to 4 smaller workshops. I know that my partner in crime Helen Amery has baggsied “The Complexity of People Issues – Getting Under the Surface” led by Karen Meager so I’m aiming for “New Organisations, New Jobs” – led by Joanne Werth and Peter Kay from Tarmac. Again I’m keen to see where industrial / engineering orgs are with the people agenda and I’m expecting a lot from the Tarmac gang as their sector and company has been evolving at great pace with so many large infrastructure projects happening in the UK.

After lunch there is another round of the same 4 workshops and as I’ve already seen a lot from Laura Overton and her colleagues at Towards Maturity on “Developing Talent – Preparing for the Future of Learning” I’m going to swerve that and aim for “Future Technologies: Making Learning as Addictive as Video Games” – led by Karyn Murray and Nitin Thakrar of E-Learning Studios. Full disclosure: I’m not a fan of using terminology such as “addiction” to describe learning, perhaps biased by doing so much work in Emotional and Mental Health. Having said that I’m fascinated by how technology can make learning fun, portable and impactful so I’m going to give it a whirl and report back.

Finally we have “Keep Stepping! Essential ways to lead yourself and others through challenge and change” with Joy Marsden. Joy has a system which focuses on motivation and resilience through change – things I spend much of my working life dealing with, (particularly when organisations haven’t looked after their people), so I think that will be a perfect way to end the day.

This sort of event is new territory for me. I’m looking forward to exploring and experiencing it. If you’re attending then please seek me out and say hi. If you can’t make it and / or want to follow along via social media the twitter hashtag is #CIPDMAP16. Do check out @CIPD_MAP and my blog partner Helen Amery on Saturday the 8th October. We will do our best to map the day and provide you with a way of navigating the experience and allow you to reflect on it all.

Loyal Antagonism

I was listening to a podcast last week. The screenwriter of the Imitation Game was being interviewed about the creative process and the many challenges he had faced whilst preparing this project. He was talking about the importance of a “loyal antagonist” as integral to his success – a person who would be honest with him and challenge him to improve his work.

The most obvious example of this that I have encountered is union representation – many times the unions are seen to have antithetical aims to management and are viewed as an irritant. However in my experience many representatives are actually committed  to the purpose of the organisation, they just express it differently, often because that is the only way their voice might be heard.

As I read around the idea I was reminded of the phrase “Speaking truth to power” attributed to Bayard Rustin, the prominent civil rights activist in 1950s America though thought to have origins in Quaker philosophy of the late 1700s. That then also made me think of the role of a jester, able to speak and mock the monarch, to expose cant and hypocrisy amongst the court. All of these examples say much about the power often residing in elites and there being a limited number of people allowed to challenge orthodoxy.

I’m lucky to have a number of friends who I can count on for advice and encouragement. Like me, many of them work as coaches and I wondered if that is the best example of a loyal antagonist. A relationship where there is no hierarchy or position of assumed power.

My final thought is around leadership.

What might happen if we encouraged individuals and teams to speak out, positively assuming that they start from a position of loyalty ? What if managers learned to accept the challenge respectfully, demonstrating that loyalty goes both ways and allowing antagonism to be seen as beneficial to the organisation?

I still don’t have an answer and I’d be grateful for inputs / challenges to my thinking – in the best spirit of loyal antagonism……

 

Informed choice

It’s good that the conversation with my current psychiatrist is actually a proper dialogue. We talk about what matters – to both of us. I’ve made it clear that I’d like the normality of knowing a little more about his role and life experience, about how that informs his practice. He on the other hand wants to know what has worked for me that he might be able to share with others. He’s genuinely interested in me and how I calibrate myself. Unlike some previous examples……

……and he makes time for me.

He openly encourages a broader discussion. Last time we met, we sat and looked up a medication together. Him with his textbook and me using his computer to find the guidance on the Mind website (check out treatment / drug advice here if you need some factsheets) – he even asked me to bookmark the page for his future reference. We discussed how the particular medication might interact with my current regime and also the potential drawbacks. He let me go away to think about it and make my own decision with the caveat that I needed to take some action and if it wasn’t this then we would need to consider what else it might be.

Well, I’ve thought and thought. Turned it over in my mind and also experienced an increasing number of “breakthrough” symptoms on my existing medication regime. Which means it’s time for a change, well an addition. If this doesn’t work out then my next option is probably the rest of my life on a different, more invasive medication. The psychiatrist wanted to give me a chance and exhaust all my options rather than taking what might be an easier route for him.

I’m conflicted about it. I don’t want more medication, more adjustments, the time taken to work out the titration and side effects. It feels like another small defeat. An abdication of responsibility for my mood is not a good thing but perhaps it is a temporary measure – that’s what I’m telling myself right now. So whilst it feels like another little chipping away of my agency I also know that I can discuss it and get good advice from him. The kind of advice which will allow me to make my own decisions.

 

39

The first round of the table always leaves me watchful for the little niggles between colleagues, the hierarchy being established, power being displayed and measured. It’s the kind of place where everyone quickly states how long they have been there, which evolution of the organisation they joined at – and that’s before the demarcation between functions and operations.

The morning session went pretty well. A good level of interest for the programme and some obviously motivated delegates. This afternoon it’s the second cohort to go through the introduction. We go round the table and the numbers start coming in – my heart sinks a little – 16 years, 19 years, 25 years and then the winner.

Worked here for 39 years.

He’s survived through various acquisitions, mergers, reorganisations and “multiple management training programmes”.

And we are introducing a batch of training designed to ensure consistency across all management grades. Not the leadership stuff but the policy and procedure. This guy has been here longer than most of the procedures let alone his colleagues! I wonder what he will say when answering the question “What do you want to get out of this course?”

I can’t remember his exact words but to paraphrase “I really want to learn how other colleagues solve problems and I’d like to share some of my knowledge or experience if it might be useful”. Which sets the tone for the rest of the session. It encourages older and younger colleagues to swap examples, to share insights and ask each other for help.

The cohorts are not fixed, this collection of people will not necessarily all be in the same session for next months module. Different dynamics will emerge and play out but I hope that everyone will remember this moment. How rare to meet someone of such experience who is so utterly without agenda, who has no need for ego or position to define him in this room.

I can’t wait to work with him again.

 

 

Ticking over

The email from the client had all the usual pleasantries about summer and “how are you?” – I answered “ticking over”. I don’t really like the British defaults such as “not bad” or “mustn’t grumble” so I did give my answer some thought and I found it accurate.

The client is also someone I know socially and we have shared an occasional beer and a couple of working lunches. I certainly know them sufficiently to be honest and open about my mental health. Their response was to state that my “ticking over” sounded like their “well enough” which hints at more but is a perfectly acceptable response in order to be pleasant. Our emails pinged back and forth and it forced me to think carefully about my turn of phrase.

Even allowing for the fact that emails lack tone and nuance I think we all tend to give stock responses, particularly in a business conversation. However I know this client better than many so I don’t need to give an evasive / simplistic answer. So what did I mean? Ticking over isn’t a common phrase for me but it was how I had judged my mood when asked. To me it spoke of a measured calm, rhythmic and steady progress but there was no way that my client would know that. I thought of other phrases I use (and knowingly deploy to give a socially acceptable answer).

• There is “trundling along” which is closer to the “well enough” my client used.
• I use “I’m on transmit” as an apology if I feel I’m going too fast / am dominating conversation.
• In conversation I might say “I’m slow today” as a way to explain a sluggishness of thought but also a low mood or depressive phase.
• Another one is “fizzy” to describe an elated mood state, less powerful than “on transmit” but also full of (generally positive) agitated feelings. Sometimes a good state for planning / brainstorming.

I could go on but you get the idea. I’m very open about my mental health, it’s a facet of my business after all. I help some people be more open about their mental health, I help others learn the listening skills of Mental Health First Aid. I deliver an exercise about building a mood scale, sharing it with colleagues or loved ones so that you can understand each other easily yet even I give standardised responses. I try not to give evasive or dismissive answers or even avoid the question all together but it’s hard to find something which is a brief nugget to go alongside comments about the weather.

Building a shared language is difficult when working as a freelancer. You don’t share an office or go to the same meetings so that an understanding can be built. Often it is brief calls or email exchanges, particularly with long standing, trusted clients. Many of my client contacts aren’t on social media so also lose that measure of how I’m showing up in the world.

I’m glad we had the email conversation about what I meant. It gave me pause for thought, in both what I say and what the other person thought I might mean (wrongly in this case). I speak a certain code which makes sense to me and to those who know me well. At times I use it to avoid a longer response or as a shorthand but these days I never actually lie about my health. However I realise that I’ve probably sanitised my answers more times than I would have liked.

Later that day I had a client call booked with two contacts in another organisation and when I was asked how I was I replied “a little tired but my mood is balanced and steady”. And yes I know that is also incredibly clunky but the clients know me well enough and deserve an honest answer. Anyway, perhaps I’ll think of a better way to say these things the next time I’m “fizzy”.

Niche proposition

I fell in to being self employed. It wasn’t part of my plan (not that I ever had much of a plan for my career). I’d seen self employment make my father very ill and experienced the precariousness of his fluctuating income when I was younger. Having said all that I’ve grown to rather enjoy the experience. The flexibility gained and the variety of employers keep it interesting so that what started as a few odd jobs whilst I waited for my next operations role has built in to a small business.

Early on I was encouraged by a number of people, many of them also small business owners. It was suggested that I needed a “niche” – something that I am known for, the “go to guy” for that particular discipline. For a long time I resisted that as I like the variety of differing work. As time has gone on though my work has started to fall in to two main areas. One based on my operational experience and the other based on helping organisations and individuals with their emotional health. The only departure from that is some occasional mediation and generalist associate work.

I’m currently taking advantage of a few quiet weeks to do some business development (between the Tour de France and the upcoming Olympics / Paralympics I think I timed this well). Seriously though, I’m working on what my narrative is, what I actually do for my clients and I’ve managed to identify an underlying process which works across a variety of my offerings. Right now, anecdotally at least, it’s a tough time for small independent providers and it’s tempting to try to offer more, be all things to all people in an effort to drive business. I’m trying to update my website and display my niche skills whilst still providing visibility to other services I provide……

…..and it’s not easy.

Another variable is that my (perhaps) best known niche is in the area of Mental Health. I make some of my living as an “Expert by Experience” and herein lies the challenge. Does working in this niche actually help my own mental health? It’s a problem I’ve wrestled with before and there don’t seem to be easy answers.

Where does that leave my business development? I’m working in an area where I’m unlikely to go out of business imminently (though it does feel that way often – you have to kiss a lot more frogs than you’d think). However, whilst it’s great helping organisations make changes to the way they look after their staff it does come at a cost to me.

I’m not unique in finding myself in a niche which isn’t where I started / wanted to go – that describes many people in employment. I imagine there are others amongst the self employed who would like to be known for much more than a narrow strand of their capabilities but the reality is that it’s hard enough to get the work, do the work and get paid on time before you think about diversifying.

I don’t have a particular reason for writing this blog, it was just on my mind as I work. Maybe though there is a resonance for both the employed and self employed. What niche have you ended up stuck in and what (if anything) are you doing to break out? I’d be interested to read your stories / comments.

 

 

Always aware

One of the joys of social media has been the ability to connect swiftly and easily with many points of view, so much informed debate and critical thought. My chosen channels are awash with information but it is the quality of the connections which brings this information alive and turns it in to useful knowledge.

Much of my work is within the field of health and organisational wellbeing. There is a plethora of resources shared within this area and then also there are specific awareness days / weeks. One of the criticisms often levelled at these events is that we should be speaking about the subject year round, not just on World Mental Health Day (10th October is the date for your diary). I understand this but I still see the worth more generally.

Next week it is Mental Health Awareness Week and sure enough I’m delivering a talk for the CIPD North Yorkshire branch but in a wonderful moment of serendipity it’s also International Coaching Week.

This led me to a conversation with my good friend and colleague David Goddin and he had a great idea. Harnessing the power of social media and the energy of an awareness week to host a series of bitesize tweet chats about issues within coaching. Obviously with the crossover to Mental / Emotional Health that will be one of the series but we have tried to think more broadly.

We would love you to get involved so every morning next week you can join us on the hashtag #ICWbites at 0900 BST.

MONDAY 16th – “Social Media in Coaching”

TUESDAY 17th – “Coaching for Emotional Health”*

WEDNESDAY 18th – “Coaching and Leadership”

THURSDAY 19th – “The Democratisation of Coaching”

FRIDAY 20th – “Coach Development”

There will be 4 quick questions in each chat and we won’t dwell too long so don’t be late! Hopefully they will start conversations which last long beyond the awareness week.

Awareness Concept – Golden Compass Needle on a Black Field Pointing.

 

Heard

Day one, 

Scene – a mediation

First there was the anger, the reiteration of old slights and hurts. The litany of infractions, some real, some imagined. Half forgotten meetings and misremembered conversations. The inevitable grievances. Then came the dossier, the email trails to prove a point, passages highlighted for emphasis – a quest to justify and convert the listener. 

A second voice is added. The accusations fly, point and counter point. Claims and rebuttals. Contention and conflict. The other side of the equation, another perspective but no less entrenched, just different. The conversation expands to fill all the available space in the room. A claustrophobic situation, the released energy heating us all but no windows can be opened as we continue our confidential session, discordant and exhausting.

“Is this betrayal of trust something we can work from? The place we draw the line under?”

Slowly but surely it shifts. A certain mutual respect is evident, it’s grudging but it’s there – like it always is. Sometimes I wonder whether it’s just the time of day, the prospect of an end to this fighting, a chance to go home and lick the wounds before rejoining battle. Yet in the next thought I know it’s not. It’s deeper, a more visceral response. 

“I just needed to be heard.”

That’s the moment it changes, the moment where a resolution becomes possible. It’s not always stated as clearly as it was that day but it’s what happens. Being heard – in turn it allows them to see themselves differently. They don’t have to occupy their previous positions. Five years of intractable conflict starts to become the basis for resolution, not perhaps a reconciliation but maybe a new narrative that they can co-create. 

Day two

Scene – a resilience course arranged for a group of people at risk of redundancy.

The formal session is over. The afternoon is rotating cast of characters entering and leaving for their “coaching”. The only constant is a man with one question. 

“How can I help you today?”

The answers fly thick and fast, often a question in reply

“It’s the weed mainly, that and my marriage”.

“Should my cv hide my work as a union rep?”

“I don’t know. What have others wanted from you?”

“How did I get trapped here?”

“It’s my second redundancy – is it just me?”

“Well my two children are in a special school and I really need the job.”

“I’m full of anger, what can you do with that then eh? What can we do with 20 minutes?”

“I’m gonna be ok but I want to be able to help my colleagues.”

Keep listening, two ears, one mouth is the mantra. Rinse and repeat. Person after person. It’s hard, no break, no time to really reflect. I try to give each of them a little more time than their allocation. I’d make a terrible doctor, always running late as I listen for one more word, one more silence. There’s always time to allow one more tear, another moment to compose themselves before they step out. 

I’ll never know the stories, how it all turns out for them. All I know is that they were heard. How do I know? It’s in the handshake, in the final look we exchange. 

This is my job – to hear people.

  

Lost in the system

It’s uncomfortable, confusing and dispiriting. You’ve volunteered for this. You want to be part of an elite, handpicked and trained to a different level. So how come this experience is tearing up the models you’ve been taught? The investigation is getting difficult, no logical pattern to the events. Random, disparate information yet you sense a connection, if only you could find it.

You go back to the start, check with colleagues, test your ideas and re-examine the evidence. You begin to see beyond the information, slowly but surely you notice what is missing.

You were so deep in the data you forgot to bring yourself. The human factor that they always mention. You thought the term meant mistakes by the people you’re investigating. Which it does, but it’s only part of the system. We can’t investigate this incident without you. We need the messy, conflicted and confused you. The person who remembers what it was to be frightened or complacent or distracted. Who recalls the pressure of the role, the pride of the job and the continual battle with unrealistic deadlines or budgets.

In the end, no model works, no theory lasts. Someone always breaks the rules and something always goes wrong. There’s a saying by Mao Tse tung – “Everything under heaven is in utter chaos; the situation is excellent.” That’s the world we are working in – are you ready?

  

Low voltage

This is how it is, my mind oscillating gently. The depression as the foundations on which the agitation is built. My fingers twitch and spasm, holding anything is difficult and yet the feeling comes and goes. Sometimes I can use a knife to cut my food, others I can’t even pick up a glass. The energy courses through me but on a low voltage. A constant circuit which never seems enough to power me but manages to disable and isolate me from the world.

It’s hard to explain it and its embarrassing, this endless fidget which comes in waves. It’s hard to settle and the constant need to move some part of me leads to an afternoon of alternating between activities. Reading a book, playing a game on my phone to use the twitching positively or perhaps trying to use the smooth focus of building something in Lego. By the end of the day I have several chapters finished, a good score on the cricket game and a Police helicopter built but still the circuit keeps completing.

When I started the lamotrigine I had two weeks of twitching legs (ironic for a medication primarily used for epilepsy) so it could be the recent increase in the medication but it’s happened plenty of times when I’m not on tablets.

Maybe it’s the result of a couple of very busy weeks on the road. I’ve stopped but my body hasn’t realised yet. I wish I knew the reason, so far this symptom defies classification or calibration. Long walks seem to help but riding a bike feels beyond me. I think I prefer the anxiety attacks, at least they pass relatively quickly even if they do come in clusters. They seem easier to predict and manage. The next few weeks are similarly busy so perhaps amping up the intensity will help me overload and somehow blow the fuse in the circuit.

Hardly seems like an ideal plan though.