It's been a while since we presented a page of short and sweet top tips and timeless pearls of wisdom. Perhaps that some of us now have time to relax (a little) and reflect (a little) some of these messages might find their way inside you. Enjoy!
It’s been a while since we presented a page of short & sweet top tips and timeless pearls of wisdom. Perhaps that some of us now have time to relax (a little) and reflect (a little) some of these messages might find their way inside you. Enjoy!
Communicating Powerfully.
Beware unfettered use of email.
It was widely believed not long ago that the importance of skilled writing had reduced and was going to diminish further. What we see now though is the pervasive use of email whereby all your employees receive communications from your various customer groups, in truly incredible volumes.
Who should write back, the recipient or the most skilled or appropriate person in your business? What happens next is crucial to determining how your team or business is perceived!
Many organisations have a strict processes for dealing with responses to print mail, but absolutely no rules for responding to incoming emails from external parties.
Consulting/Influencing.
The “answer” is the 2nd most important tool a consultant can use. Understanding the question ranks first. Ray Payn, Consultant’s Little Instruction Book, Mega Media Press
Every generation tests the laws of nature.
A Linguistics professor was lecturing to his class one day. “In English,” he said, “a double negative forms a positive. In some languages, though, such as Russian, a double negative is still a negative. However, there is no language wherein a double positive can form a negative.” A voice from the back of the room piped up, “Yeah, right.” Ballast Quarterly Review, Cited in The Sun Magazine.
You!
- Jealousy. Don’t be jealous. The race is long and in the end it is only with yourself.
- Optimism. It creates a better future. If you don’t believe the future can be better you wont accept responsibility for making it so. If you assume there is no hope, you will guarantee there will BE no hope. If you believe in the instinct for freedom and you see opportunities to change things, there is a chance you may contribute to making a better world. Your choice.
- Integrity. How do you define it? How do you rate? Who on earth knows but let’s simplify it a bit and consider a extreme scenario. Just imagine for a moment that every time you utter even one word about someone else, they’re standing next to you listening. Would it change what you say? Would it change how you say it? If you answer yes to any of these, ask yourself why. Food for thought.
HR Humour.
For those who can get a bit precious DON’T read our regular pot-shot at everyone and anyone.
Throughput - What happens to cranky Mill Managers when they “try” to play golf.
Blast pattern - A form of communication (sometimes effective) still employed by “non new - age MD’s”, when blaming their CFO for the GFC.
Recovery Rate – The time it takes to get your motivation back after being hit with a Blast Pattern.
Spreadsheet package - Like a bag of laundry – often messy and blamed for stuff never coming out that supposedly went in. The play thing of many young mining engineers who think that adding up all the things they don’t understand, will make those things easier to solve later on!
HR Manager - Godlike – invisible, but always in the back of your mind and regularly referred to in the corporate bible.
CFO – Unlike UFO – highly visible in recent times having been out to lunch with every banker in town, and paid the bill.
Joint venture - A hip replacement – or at least has a similar affect on the ability to move quickly. To be avoided by all but the most mascachistic of company directors or those with an unfailing belief in the concept of “we’re all gentlemen and ladies at heart” and we’ll sort out any future disagreements with a phone call because we’re all reasonable people after all eh”. Yeah Right!
And last but certainly not least,
Senior Explorationists – Silver haired and ghost-like they drift in and out of our consciousness like angels in the night. Definitely the most multi - skilled of all the resource industry professions. To quote Sir Richard Attenborough the ability of this race to survive is legendary………
And we all thank heavens for that.
If we missed anyone please let us know and we’ll get them next time and please don’t take yourself too seriously. If you did, you’re probably closer to these send-ups than you should be.