Tag Archives: popular culture

Royal Navy Field Gun. A lesson in incredible teamwork, motivation, commitment and missing fingers.

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20121230-191744.jpgBack in about 1989 I went on a rugby tour to play against a Royal Navy Field Gun Team in Portsmouth. Some of our team (Whitchurch Hospital Cardiff RFC) were on sabbatical from the Royal Navy and gave the following stern advice the evening before the game, “watch out for the Field Gun players with missing fingers…….they have no sense of fear and are absolutely committed to winning”. “Whatever you do, don’t pick a fight with them!” This was obviously expressed in slightly more colourful language at 10pm in the bar, and I’ll leave it up to your imagination as to what was actually said.

Imagine my joy the next day to discover my opposite number had a missing finger on his right hand (and some missing teeth, but that’s pretty routine for the front row). He wasn’t the most technically effective Tighthead Prop I’ve ever played against, but probably the strongest and liveliest. I can’t actually remember who won the game, but we certainly lost the post match ‘entertainment’ by several nautical miles.

I never managed to sum up the courage to ask my opposite number why he was missing a finger, but this is the story that was told by my Royal Navy teammates…….. Before you read on have a look at this video of the Field Gun event from the Royal Tournament in 1999.

Field Gun has a remarkable history well worth reading about, going back to the siege of Ladysmith during the Boer War in 1900. The competition developed from this and involved two teams of 18 Royal Navy personnel transporting a field gun plus ammunition carriage around an obstacle course. That sounds reasonable until you actually see it in action. With 900 pound gun barrels and other chunks of metal flying through the air and crashing together it is terrifying. It is an incredible thing to watch in terms of the individual skills, commitment and how they all fit together perfectly as a team to deliver the end result.

Back to the missing finger. The story goes that during one of the ‘runs’ of the assembled field gun it wasn’t unknown for a pin that secures the wheel on the axle to go missing. To avoid losing the race one of the highly committed team members would insert a finger into the pin hole, keep the wheel on the axle and get the team across the line to victory. The inevitable action of metal + finger + metal + frantic movement = bye-bye finger.

This of course could have been an urban myth. There was no YouTube in 1989 for me to check, though having recently  found this video of Field Gun training I’m quite glad I didn’t see what I was about to face. I reckon you could lose a finger, or sustain any number of other dreadful injuries during just about any part of the exercise. The story did however make for excellent motivation and keep me on my toes throughout the rugby game.

Field Gun doesn’t exist nowadays in the Royal Tournament format shown in the 1999 video. I’m not sure of the reasons why, but defence cuts have been suggested and I bet health and safety probably had something to do with it. As an example of astonishing levels of teamwork, motivation, commitment (and missing fingers) Field Gun is an incredible example. I’m not sure how you would replicate any of this in the current climate, or in non military organisations, but it’s worth thinking about.

One final thought. Imagine Field Gun as an Olympic sport?  An interesting alternative to beach volleyball……

So, what’s the PONT?

  1. Fear can be a great motivator, it worked for me.
  2. The smallest action within a team activity can have a big impact on the overall result. A dropped axle pin could result in losing a wheel, the race and a finger.
  3. People will do astonishing things if they are highly motivated and committed to the team objectives.

Links to videos of Field Gun:

http://youtu.be/32s4qCCFnmk 1999 Royal Tournament Field Gun Competition. This is an astonishing spectacle. Amazing teamwork.

http://youtu.be/-wmOv5TCE9U Portsmouth Action Field Gun Team Recruitment video 2010.

http://youtu.be/eRY-wiAkpNE Field Gun Interviews. Described as the most dangerous team sport in the world. The training looks terrifying.

Photo source: http://forums.canadiancontent.net/sports/84033-worlds-most-dangerous-sport-back.html BBC TV picture.

Newsletter vrs Podcast, Who Wins? Remember, a paper newsletter can also keep you warm.

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20121216-140255.jpgMy father in law once told me about how managed the mountains of mail that landed on his desk as the Head of a large High School. One of his routines was to drop all of the newsletters neatly into a box with the intention of reading them at the end of term. Mostly they ended up on the bonfire, unread. This was pre recycling days but I don’t think much has changed.

This week I encountered several people who enthusiastically described how they were going to ‘change the world’ by sending newsletters (I’m exaggerating a bit, not like me I know). The point is that their passion for the cause, energy and commitment were not in doubt. Sadly though I felt their enthusiasm it was a bit unrealistic and miss-directed. Haven’t we been down the well trodden ‘let’s send out a newsletter and change the world’ path many times before?  Just to illustrate here are a few learning points from the week.

There are apps to automatically remove newsletters.  I know I shouldn’t be surprised by this, but there are. Unroll.me is an app that does this under the banner ‘End Email Overload’. Here is a description of how Sarah Kessler reduced 271 subscriptions to 17 and packaged had them into a single email using unroll.me

The underlying motivation seems to be that most newsletter subscriptions are a nuisance that should be removed from your email inbox. Something newsletter editors might want to think about?

Prevention is better than cure.  There are plenty of people advocating the ‘just say no’ approach. If you search online for information on how to deal with email overload it’s not long before you encounter advice telling you not to sign up for email newsletters in the first place and un-subscribe from any you currently receive.

The emailcharter.org has got some very helpful advice on how to prevent email overload, focused upon individuals taking responsibility for their actions. When it comes to newsletters I particularly like their ‘Join Our Mailing List’ button. This has a note next to it saying “Don’t Click This! “  Go and click it and see what happens

Newsletters seem to have acquired the status of ‘problem’. Something that clogs up your inbox which you’ll never ever read.

Paper newsletters don’t get treated any better. Saturday morning at home is time to sort through the week’s post. This week generated six newsletters that went directly from package to recycling bin without passing through the brain. OK, there were some things like the ‘Greyhound Rescue Shelter News’, but you get the point.

The carefully crafted design, eloquently written content and cost of printing don’t count for much if the newsletter closely follows the junk mail into the recycling bin (I think I might actually take more in if I were glancing at them before throwing them onto the bonfire…..?).

Good News, there is another way…….Podcasts.  While I was engaged in my Saturday morning chores I had a podcast playing.  This was the disruptive social care podcast from Shirley Ayres and Stuart Arnott. Listening to Shirley, Stuart and their guests is one my most useful learning experiences (it’s like Radio 4, but better….).

This podcast is in a completely different league to newsletters and as it happens the guest this week picked up on the point. Richard Humphries, Senior Research Fellow at The Kings Fund made a comment along the lines of….  ‘the social care sector produces lots of outputs, reports, papers etc which he struggles to keep up with. However, he always finds time to listen to the podcast which provides a fresh perspective’ I think that pretty much says it all.

Do have a listen to the disruptive social care podcast for yourself, it’s a great example of how to share knowledge. Even if social care isn’t your main area of interest, it’s surprising what you can learn.

So, what’s the PONT?

  • Knowledge exchange is a complicated area where multiple channels of communication are possible. Knowing what works for your target audience is essential.
  • The trusty old newsletters (paper or digital) do get treated a bit like spam or junk mail. Something editors need to recognise.
  • Podcasts offer a fresh perspective which is very engaging for many people. The time will come when they are the ‘standard approach’ that the newsletter used to be.

Purpose, Meaning & Happiness on the Camino. Also, why is there a bullet hole in this road sign?

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At a recent conference (forgotten which one exactly) the speaker said something along the lines of; “having purpose and meaning are the main things that lead to long-term happiness in life”. He also added that “if you achieve this sort of happiness you can tolerate all sorts of hardships and frustrations”.

These thoughts resurface during my cycle ride along part of the Camino de Santiago in North West Spain. Don’t worry, I’m not about to go all spiritual and ‘Zen’ on you. I just thought it was interesting to reflect upon this and some of what I observed on the Camino.

Camino Pilgrims are extremely happy people. Obviously with the exception of my cycling companion Geof, who loves being grouchy. Pilgrims stride purposefully along the path with euphoric smiles and greet strangers with ‘Buen Camino’ (good road).

You might expect this from people who are on a pilgrimage to a site of religious significance, but surely not everyone?

I think the source of their happiness has something to do with purpose. Depending on where you start, the Camino de Santiago can be 1000′s km long; the French Camino route we were cycling is 780km. It’s a long distance and having a very clear ‘purpose’ to complete the walk is likely to feature greatly with people.  Perhaps this is why they are so happy?

One other thing.  There is nothing like racing downhill at 45kmh on your bicycle, passing a pilgrim on foot. Not sure what that does for their happiness, but it certainly cheered up Geof, bellowing ‘BUEN CAMINO…….’ as he sped past.

Camino Pilgrims put up with great hardships. After 30km of slogging it along the dusty road, carrying your belongings on your back, in all sorts of weather, scorching heat, torrential downpours, wind, snow and sleet……spending the night in feather bed luxury is just what you need.

Sadly this isn’t the case for most pilgrims. The accommodation is usually an Alburgue or refuge. These are very basic places, what would you expect for a few Euros a night?

Maybe this substantiates the idea that if you are deeply happy (fueled by purpose and meaning) you will tolerate all sorts of hardships.

Obviously you don’t have to stay in Alburgue. You ‘gets what you pays for’ and there are plenty of decent hotels along the route. I should probably be ashamed of myself for saying this but, I did like the ones that gave complimentary use of the minibar for ‘pilgrims’ (just show your credentials).

Camino Pilgrims look lost at the end of the road. I reckon this is a difficult thing for many pilgrims. On reaching Santiago de Compostela, and achieving your goal, what happens next? You no longer have a ‘purpose’ in life. This may bit melodramatic, but it was interesting to see people wandering around aimlessly after the initial euphoria of arriving in Santiago had worn off. One chap with a large beard (there are oh so many of them), was loudly and proudly proclaiming on Wednesday afternoon “I walked 1000km to get here…..” Thursday afternoon he looked completely lost, in every sense.

I wonder if this is where some of those epic ‘walk around the world’, ‘I jogged home to Tonmawr from Tibet’ journeys come from? People found happiness with a purpose (walking somewhere) and just needed to keep on walking.

Finally, why is there a bullet hole in the road sign? A couple of theories:

  • Basic law of the Universe. In rural areas where people have guns, the road signs get shot. Simple.
  • Some of the people who live alongside the Camino never actually get to walk it for any distance. As a result they lack purpose and meaning in their lives, are unhappy and engage in random acts of vandalism (shooting road signs).
  • Please suggest your own theories in the comments.

So, what’s the PONT?

  1. Achieving long-term happiness may well have a lot to do with having a purpose and meaning to what you do.
  2. If you are happy, it probably is easier to tolerate hardships and frustrations.
  3. Beware of the void once your purpose has been achieved. The ‘what’s next’ can be a very challenging question.

There are some great blogs about the Camino: http://www.caminosantiagodecompostela.com/pilgrims-credential-el-camino-de-santiago/

Graphic Facilitation….so much better than my notes.

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Building on my enthusiasm for graphic facilitation (as mentioned in previous posts) I was fortunate to see Paul Richardson of apagraphicfacilitation.com in action at Welsh Public Services Summer School.

In the spirit of a picture really does speak a thousand words and the drawings are so much better than my notes, here are a few examples of the fantastic work Paul did during the week (as well as running daily workshops, impressive stuff!).

This one is about a reference to the Boston Philharmonic Conductor Benjamin Zander. The speaker, Avril Carson spoke about how Benjamin Zander uses a phrase about ‘playing on one buttock’ to describe when musicians are really energised and engaged. I asked Paul if he could draw it…… I never thought he would, brilliant result.

‘Have I made them stronger and more capable’ is one from Emmanuel Gobillot. Advice on what leaders should do. Nothing more to add. Fantastic advice and a great image.

The next one, a triangle is a bit more technical. It refers to research that indicates in change programmes only 10% of the successful ideas originate with the senior managers. The most useful ideas come from the people closest to the work (no surprises here…….). This was spoken about by Nick Obolensky. I need to dig up the research on this. Unfortunately I failed to write down the source properly, proving the point about my notes being less useful than Paul’s graphic facilitation.

Overall, the images Paul produced have helped me build upon my learning at Summer School, and share it with others. The impact of showing people the pictures I took on my phone has been remarkable. If I had to sum up my experience of graphic facilitation in three words they would be; immediate, effective and long-lasting. Thanks Paul.

So, what’s the PONT?

  1. They are a quick way of capturing key learning points (so much better than my notes).
  2. Pictures really do speak a thousand words. People can effectively understand complicated messages through images.
  3. The impact is long-lasting. I’m more likely to re-visit a picture or print it out and pin it on a wall than re-read my scribbled notes.

If you want to see all of what Paul drew during the week here is a link to the Academi Wales Flickr stream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/81188091@N04/7643756830/in/photostream/

Berlin Love Padlocks…. not as viral as I’d imagined

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That’s a title that could conjure up something interesting particularly if you frequent the more exotic Berlin attractions (I’d imagine).

Well actually it’s quite sweet and innocent.

Love padlocks are a tradition that involves placing a padlock on a piece of municipal iron work, usually a bridge railing, and throwing the key into the river below. It’s a symbol of your never-ending love for your partner and should be inscribed with your names and an important date to add significance to the event. I wrote about the practice in Florence, Italy in 2011.

Apparently it started in Florence when soldiers who were being transferred from the local army barracks would put the padlocks from their kit lockers onto the Florence bridges and throws the keys into the River Arno below. A romantic gesture, symbolising love and commitment.

The practice has gone viral, spreading to 30 countries across the world. There is plenty of material about love padlocks on the Internet including details of the battles between sweethearts placing the padlocks and officials who want to remove them. If you are interested there are even businesses that will provide an inscribed padlock of your choice.

Here is the example I saw recently in Berlin. That’s Berlin Cathedral in the background and the River Spree below.  This surprised me a bit. The extent of the love padlocks was a bit restrained in comparison with those I’d seen in Florence. Given the scale of other forms of self expression I’d seen in Berlin, particularly graffiti (which is everywhere) and things like the Love Parade, I’d have thought love padlocks would have taken off and gone viral. Perhaps love padlocks are a bit too tame and mainstream for the Berliners?

I suppose it goes to show, you can’t predict human behavior and what will go viral.

By the way, as far as I’m aware there is no evidence yet of love padlocks taking off in Cardiff, or anywhere else in Wales (excellent locations in Cardiff Bay, probably). You could however argue that the Welsh love spoon is a sophisticated demonstration of love. Love spoons are unfortunately quite expensive and not that practical for attaching to bridges as public expressions of love.

So, what’s the PONT?

  1. Public expressions of emotion do seem to vary hugely between countries and cultures.
  2. Human emotions are complex and it’s incredibly difficult to predict what people might do, and what might go viral.
  3. Perhaps the Italians really are the most romantic people in Europe. I’ve just come back from Italy. There are plenty of love padlocks dotted around Florence, Venice and even popping up in places like Volterra.

Negative Capability, John Keats and Half Man Half Biscuit.

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Everybody sing along…….

There is nothing better in life,

Than writing on the sole of your slipper with a biro.

There is nothing better in life,

Than writing on the sole of your slipper with a biro.

There is nothing better in life,

Than writing on the sole of your slipper with a biro,

On a Saturday night instead of going to the Pub.

Lyrics: The Best Things In Life by sometimes surreal Half Man Half Biscuit (hmhb).

Well there is……spending Saturday night, not with slipper and biro, but researching the 19th century English Romantic Poet John Keats and his ideas on Negative Capability (my wife tells me that by now most people will have left). There is a very good reason for my mindshift…….

Earlier this year I was at Welsh Public Services Summer School where I was introduced to the idea of negative capability and Keats. This was in the context of how to approach learning and how I might best experience new ideas during the week. Helpfully it was broken down into some ideas I could get my head around.

Positive Capability: Acts of certainty; Confidence; Extend Boundaries; Control; Comfort; and Adding Skills (the place where we spent most time).

Negative Capability: Self inquiry; Observation; Adaption; Humility; Imagination and Uncomfortable Learning (not visited very often).

This explanation was great as a starting point but something kept troubling me and was the reason why I ended up researching John Keats on a Saturday night, whilst listening to hmhb. The question I kept asking myself was; is negative capability really any different to some of the learning and self-development ideas I’ve heard about before? Things like:

  • Push the boundaries;
  • “Do one thing every day that scares you” (just did that).
  • Get out of your comfort zone;
  • Think outside of the box;
  • Be comfortable with ambiguity;
  • Deal with complexity etc,etc.

Here are the results of my research and a few links that might be useful.

  • Wikipedia: Negative Capability, to be honest this didn’t help. I’m a lapsed scientist and the language  was all a bit too literary and then edged into psychoanalysis  (blimey).
  • French, Simpson & Harvey explained it more helpfully in a paper on Creative Leadership. Here they use the Keats quote to describe the state in which a person “is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact & reason”.

This is all great, but what you really need on a Saturday night is YouTube……….

  • Video by conferencereport. A useful explanation if you can cope with the cars passing in the background.  Having the presenter talk to a hand-held camera while walking around was curiously engaging.
  • Eben Pagan’s Get Altitude video has a more ‘management seminar’ style and talks about understanding another person’s emotions. A bit tangential.
  • Bright Star is a 2009 film about the Keats poem of the same name, here is the official trailer. Helpfully there are other videos linked to the film where negative capability is explained. Here is one with chaps diving in the lake Mr. Darcy style. To my surprise, the explanation of how to ‘understand poetry’ helped a lot with my understanding of negative capability.

“The point of diving in the lake is not to immediately swim to the shore, but to be in the lake. To luxuriate in the sensation of water. You do not, ‘work the lake out’. It is an experience beyond thought”

Summer School was a bit like diving in and immersing myself. Now I’m sitting back and doing some of the ‘working out’, on Saturday nights as it happens. As for hmhb lyrics, I’m still in the lake, luxuriating in the mystery.

So what’s the PONT?

  1. Negative capability is different from just ‘pushing the boundaries’ of things you already know about.
  2. Accept that you cannot and may not need to understand everything you encounter.
  3. It can feel uncomfortable but by immersing yourself in things you don’t fully understand, new things can emerge.

Photo source: John Keats http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:John_Keats_by_William_Hilton.jpg

I have to finish this off with one more hmhb reference for Helen Reynolds. John Keats wrote several odes including ode to a nightingale. As far as I know hmhb only have one ode, ‘ode to Joyce’, which does have a video featuring this picture of a kitten playing a guitar. Awesome!

The Rule of 1% is Dead….. well not quite round these parts.

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After wondering in previous posts about how many people actually participate in online communities of practice, my son helpfully pointed me in the direction of the 1% rule of Internet culture. Fantastic, this felt like the world of 90% lurkers I recognise. Then the BBC goes and burst my bubble. In their online spring briefing they pronounce that participation rates in online activities are much higher, more like 77%. I’m confused; almost 8 out of 10 people actively participating? This doesn’t feel like the world I inhabit.

The 1% rule or the 90–9–1 principle is a hypothesis that more people will lurk in a virtual community than will participate. It’s been around since the mid 2000’s and has been likened to the 80/20 rule (Pareto principle), where 20% of a group will deliver 80% of the activity.

For online communities the 1% rule states:

  • 1% of people will actually create content;
  • 9% of people edit, modify or comment on that content; and
  • 90% of people will view the content without contributing.

Based upon my experience this feels about right and seems to be a very plausible hypothesis. It could also apply to some of the offline communities I’ve experienced.

The BBC Internet Blog article presents the findings of a survey of over 7500 adult internet users that was gathered over an 18 month period. One of the key points author Holly Goodier makes is, “digital participation now is best characterised through the lens of choice. These are the decisions we take about whether, when, with whom and around what, we will participate. Because participation is now much more about who we are, than what we have, or our digital skill.” What I took from the article was that improvements in ‘ease of participation’ mean that there are no longer the technical barriers like there used to be. The other thing it says to me is, the content has to be good – something you want to / are motivated to engage and participate (no surprises there).

The BBC findings have generated a bit of debate. In this article by Bobbie Johnson on GIGAOM he argues that the BBC are comparing ‘apples with oranges’ to arrive at the 77% participation figure. In reality people (like me and many I know) use different parts of the internet for different things and the rule of 1% still applies when you look at things broadly. Not everyone agrees with him though and someone has commented, “The BBC are never wrong and you’re clearly are…”.  Oh dear, might be a lesson here…… be careful about criticising the BBC.

Coming back to my world of online communities and why I think the rule of 1% still applies:

  • Professional knowledge sharing in an online community of practice is quite a bit different to a discussion thread about what a Radio 1 DJ is saying. When your professional reputation is on public display, most people I know will stay hidden with the 90% lurkers;
  • Micro-participation is still developing in this world, it’s not quite the ‘done thing’ to ‘like’ a case study about social services or refuse vehicle maintenance; and
  • There is still a lack of confidence to participate, and some organisations still don’t encourage it. Perhaps courses like social media for the terrified delivered by digitalandpeople.co.uk, which is aimed at civil servants, will help to increase the 1% and reduce the lurkers

So what’s the PONT?

  1. The rule of 1% is very useful when thinking about how many people will actually participate in an online community of practice.
  2. Content is king. If what is being said is interesting and highly relevant, you may well get higher participation rates (a bit like non virtual communities).
  3. In the world of professional knowledge sharing lots of people still need to build their confidence before they will participate.

Flipchart foraging and why its worth trying the Draw Something app

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One of my pastimes is checking out the abandoned flipcharts I find in the variety of offices and meeting rooms I get to frequent. It’s quite a revealing pastime (possibly about me unfortunately). Occasionally you do stumble across sensitive material, obviously this goes straight in the confidential waste bin, or back into the hands of the originator. However, it’s the other material on flipcharts that fascinates me. I reckon you can get a useful insight into an organisation from the debris gets left behind on the flipcharts. The more frantic the scribbles, the more I like it.  Line & box diagrams, mind maps, dodgy graphs, stick people and bullet points all feature. Whatever form it takes it’s all a great informal record of organisational life. The real story of what’s going on from the hands of the people who know the place best.

This helpfully gives me an opportunity to talk about some recent experiences where a drawing has helped focus a discussion.

Twice recently I’ve sat in meetings, slightly bored and detached from the action (a familiar situation for many I suspect). What this allowed was the opportunity for a bit of observation and testing a theory of mine about the impact of flipchart drawings.

Meeting 1. Business Process Review.  Nine people sat around a table discussing a document management process. It felt like something from a Dilbert cartoon. The alpha males and females (3 people) were vying for superiority, while two others were doing the best they could to get heard. The rest were in various stages of disengagement.  Plenty of arm waving and use of technical language to demonstrate ‘one’s own cleverness’ was going on. What looked obvious to me was that there were at least two versions of the truth being spoken about, and a contractor (supposed to be delivering the solution) looking confused, frustrated and increasingly desperate.

Eventually some bright spark suggested the contractor draw the process on a flipchart. Bingo! Suddenly everyone was talking about the same thing and rapid progress was achieved. It took 40 minutes to get to this point and 10 minutes to agree some action.

Meeting 2. Comparing Supplier Costs. Thinking about it now, this was a completely daft situation.  A group of 7 people were trying to compare two sets of figures. Most people had the first set of figures. Only one person had a copy of the second, and had only shared them verbally. The discussion was passionate and detailed, with strongly held views about the figures, but completely pointless.

Eventually someone wrote down the figures on a flipchart. It immediately became obvious where the issues where. This was incredibly not in the place where people had been expressing strongly held views! The group then got around to concentrating on the most important issues and developing options. Again, this one took about 40 minutes (of wasted time) before someone wrote on the flipchart and focused the discussion.

A few things I learnt from observing these events:

  • Some people love to talk and express an opinion, no matter how irrelevant;
  • A lack of a clear objective or point of focus allows the misguided (or even the meeting saboteurs I previously mentioned) to flourish;
  • People quickly disengage in these situations; and
  • A few ‘scribbles’ on a flipchart puts it all back on track.

If this is what can be achieved with a few amateur scribbles, imagine what can be achieved through expertly drawn graphics? Have a look at an earlier post about graphic facilitation and the fantastic material organisations like Delta7 generate by working with the people in organisations.

So, what’s the PONT?

  1. Focusing a discussion or a meeting by putting something down on paper can (usually does) help everyone understand and ‘speak the same language’.
  2. Using drawings, graphics or other illustrations can really help, especially with complicated processes, ideas or difficult situations.
  3. Next time you are in a meeting going nowhere, have a go yourself, start drawing and see what happens.

If you are wondering, here is the connection with Draw Something.  If you are slightly nervous about putting something on paper, download the Draw Something app and start drawing. Practice makes perfect … possibly. I wonder if I can fit Elvis into a work context…….?

Linked posts: http://whatsthepont.wordpress.com/2012/04/20/the-staff-dont-understand-quick-draw-them-a-picture-or-something/

Alternative critera for choosing a University …… measure what matters most.

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“Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count and everything that counts cannot necessarily be measured”. An Albert Einstein quote which eloquently sums up the problem with performance measures (and targets).

I’ve been struggling with performance measures for ages and don’t think I’m any closer to being comfortable with them than I was about 20 years ago. What has changed is my viewpoint. I have moved away from the ‘hard targets / measure’ mindset and the ‘if it can’t be measured it can’t be managed’ mantra, towards a greater recognition of the complexities of life, and you can’t (and probably don’t need to) measure everything.

All of this can be illustrated through my latest ‘let’s experiment on the kids’ adventure. Eldest son (Steady Eddie) is in the middle of selecting a university to attend. An important choice, one I couldn’t possibly let pass without offering some support and guidance (aka parental meddling). Being the robust scientific type, anything I offer needs to be logical, well structured, evidence based and repeatable. What he needed was a beautifully designed evaluation framework, based upon carefully selected performance measures. The perfect way to decide where he is going to spend the next three years of his life (I am such a good dad!).

I should also mention that I believe in empowerment and involvement, so it is only fair that Steady Eddie decides upon the performance measures and the scoring system himself, I’m ‘just helping’. What he came up with surprised me a bit. These are all very sensible, the kind of ‘grown up’ thing I was looking for.

Steady Eddie’s University Selection Criteria

  1. Employability – what percentage of graduates from the course get good jobs?
  2. Teaching Style – how much contact time is there with tutors? Is it classroom or practically focused?
  3. Environment – how safe does the Campus feel?
  4. Accessibility – how easy is it get to, and get back home?
  5. Accommodation – availability, quality & cost, a big deal.

Scoring system (there was a bit more to this, but you get the idea)

  • 5 = absolutely brilliant
  • 3 = average
  • 1 = completely rubbish.

This was fantastic. My spirits were lifted; this was everything I wish I’d done myself at 17 years old. Then reality crept in, we’d visited 3 Universities and it’s was starting to look like the ‘wrong choice’ was going to win. This was the local University which opened up the prospect of a ‘live at home option’, definitely not in my plans.  Time for me to develop an alternative scoring system and performance measures, here goes:

Meddling Dads University Selection Criteria

  1. Tutor Dress Sense. The worse the clothing, better the score. I want technical focus, not some fashion victim. Tweed jacket, tracksuit trousers, Hawaiian shirt and a woolen tie (preferably all at once) = high score.
  2. Graffiti Quality. I like obscure graffiti eg “Heisenberg may have slept here!……… are you certain?”, fantastic. However “I am bored” carved into the lecture theatre desks is a bad sign.
  3. Lab Technicians / Junior Staff.  I want someone in charge that looks like Arkwright from ”Open All Hours”, preferably with a brown lab coat.  Someone who’s been around for eons, oozing wisdom, from which the ‘bright young MSc/MA’s who work there can all learn.
  4. Canteen Food. Always check out where the PhD students and Tutors eat. It’s got to be good old stodgy institution grub. Food is fuel, shovel it in and get back to the lab. Anything ‘gastro’ = bad news.
  5. Open Day Car Park. I want to see lots of second-hand Volvo’s in the car park. All driven by earnest middle class types who have thoroughly researched where their offspring is planning to go (saves me the hassle).

The outcome has been that my alternative performance measures have helped guide his choice. By measuring some of the things that really matter, he’s settled on a university over two hours travel away. Definitely not a live at home option, result!

So, what’s the PONT?

  1. Just about anything can be measured, but focus on what matters most.
  2. Going for the obvious, ‘sensible’ option didn’t help get the outcome we wanted.
  3. Be imaginative. Tutor Dress Sense should be a standard performance measure across all universities.

Please don’t shoot the Piano Player……….. just provide a bullet proof vest

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The good old expression, shoot the messenger has been around for ages, but it’s still very relevant, particularly to me.

Basically the (blameless) messenger, bearing bad news receives some form of punishment, just for being the unfortunate individual that delivered the message. Enough said, a pointless act, but it happens.

Here’s how my situation plays out.  Friday night, out socialising with my wife when I am dispatched to phone the kids and check they are back home safely. My enquiries reveal that there has been an unfortunate incident involving teenagers, illicit drink and an elder brother videoing the embarrassing antics of his sibling which he is now sharing with their peer group. Oh joy.

I convey the bad news to my wife, “darling, the lads have been a little over exuberant tonight….”  Massive failure on my part, and I end up full of metaphorical bullet holes, and apparently the cause of all the problems.

So, here is my guide to avoiding being shot as the messenger. As relevant I think to the world of work, as it is to domestic situations.

Narrow Expectations. Before you blurt out the message, just ask the question: “what were your expectations?” If expectations and reality are massively wide apart expect some gun smoke. This is where your opportunity to manage the message comes in. I’m not suggesting telling fibs, but warming people up a bit and narrowing the expectation gap can be useful.  Alternatively you can just run away, like I should have when I found out my wife’s expectation was that the kids were at the Baptist Chapel Youth Club (on a friday night?).

Be Process Perfect. Don’t allow anyone to pick holes in your process or actions as the messenger.  There is an interesting phrase ad hominem  which is about undermining something by pointing out a negative characteristic or belief of the person supporting it. I’m talking about the same sort of thing here. Don’t give people the opportunity to undermine you as the messenger by following instructions and process perfectly.  In my case this was a rapidly delivered job. Phone kids (several times), also phone their friends, check in with grandma, make sure nothing is on Facebook, deliver threats about posting on Facebook etc. Quickly return to my wife with the message, without lingering at the bar for a fortifying drink, and most importantly, not having a laugh at the video myself. Perfect, I’ve done as I was told.

Don’t wrestle with pigs. Because you will just get dirty and the pigs really enjoy it. This expression is attributed George Bernard Shaw  but I’ve seen it used to describe lots of situations. For me the gist is, don’t get involved in arguments or discussions where the other party isn’t prepared to hear bad news, however compelling the facts or evidence. In my situation this meant sticking to a clear explanation of the facts, not justifying anything, not blaming anyone and trying to extract myself as quickly as possible, by offering solutions.

Disclaimer: I would like to point out that I would never make this wrestling comparison to any discussion with my wife; this is for illustrative purposes only.

In the end, everything worked out fine. It actually was a bit of teenage over exuberance and we have a whole week of half term (oh joy) for the dust to settle.  Something else far more entertaining, (involving other people’s kids hopefully), is bound to have happened in the meanwhile. I’m sure that some of these lessons could be transferred into the world of work; after all, it’s not that different to dealing with truculent teenagers.

So, what’s the PONT?

  1. As the messenger who delivers bad news, expect to get shot. So invest in some body armour.
  2. Manage the ‘expectation gap’ and be process perfect.
  3. Finally, under no circumstances wrestle with the pigs!

“Please don’t shoot the Piano Player –he’s doing the best he can”, is from the 1860’s Wild West.