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New River LeanCoffee Starting up
So I am starting a LeanCoffee group in the New River Valley. We’ll probably meet in one of the Panera Bread location…Blacksburg or Christiansburg.
Contact me if you want to join and be part of it.
Allan
Lean Coffee started in Seattle in 2009. Jim Benson and Jeremy Lightsmith wanted to start a group that would discuss Lean techniques in knowledge work – but didn’t want to start a whole new cumbersome organization with steering committees, speakers, and such. They wanted a group that did not rely on anything other than people showing up and wanting to learn or create.
Now, Seattle Lean Coffee happens every week, is very popular, and requires only that someone who has been there before shows up – and even then it’s just so they know where we stash the post-it notes.
HOW DOES LEAN COFFEE WORK?
The format for a Lean Coffee is very simple. This is intentional. It is meant to be the least structure necessary for a coherent and productive meeting. No more, no less.
1. Set up a Personal Kanban
Create a Ready | Doing | Done -> The simplest Personal Kanban
In this Personal Kanban we have the items to discuss, what we are currently discussing, and the discussed columns.
This provides a structure for the conversation. Next we populate it
2. What to Discuss
People all get pads of post-it notes and a pen. They then start to add their topics for conversation into the “to discuss” column. These can be literally whatever people want to discuss or follow a theme. Right now, we want to encourage as many unique ideas as we can.
When the ideas start reach a certain point (an you’ll be the best judge of when that is), each topic gets a 1 to 2 sentence introduction. This way people know what to vote for.
3. Vote and Talk
Each participant gets two votes. You can vote twice for the same thing or for two different topics. Simple put a dot on the sticky you are interested in. Tally the dots. Then you are ready to have a conversation.
The power here is that you now have a list of topics everyone at the table is interested in and is motivated to discuss for real.
For more info, go to leancoffee.com
Knowledge is not power – it's a weakness!
How many of us have heard that again and again? That knowledge is power. There is nothing wrong with knowledge…accumulating knowledge, surrounding yourself with knowledge, being around knowledgeable people or accumulating degrees etc…
Personally, I believe real value/power comes when that knowledge is put to work. These days, there is not much I cannot find on google, on a online book store or from other experts. Literally, knowledge is at my finger-tips! This is unlike when I was growing up in Africa. The biggest library I had access to was in my high-school with maybe ten book case of books, if that much. These days, there are an over-abundance of knowledge and knowledgeable people.
Knowledge should lead to execution!
So why do I consider knowledge as a weakness? Because those that accumulate knowledge for knowledge sakes in in the wrong century…trying to be a repository of info or a walking dictionary/encyclopedia is such a waste of time and storage space. More often than not, people go to seminars, workshops, and accumulate more knowledge instead of focusing on doing and executing what they already know.
How many people do you know need to lose weight? Ask them whether they know what they need to do, how to do it and compare that number to those that are in the same predicament and actually “do” it.
Maybe that is why I like the Nike slogan…”Just do it!”
Why I prefer to be a "clock builder" and not a "time teller"
Consultants have this rap about them…that when asked what time it is, they simply ask you back for your watch and tell you the time. Well, in an overly simplified world, yes, that is done everyday and sometimes, it’s the only way.
Why you ask? Well, after working with well over 100 companies by now and experiencing what managers, business owners, founders do…they have an idea what they want and they want to make sure they are not making a mistake. It could be that there is simply an overload of information so no decisions are made. The consultant comes in and assist with a few things. One, find out what they want to achieve, what the problems/pain really is and what they have tried and what works and what doesn’t and to offer options. The key most times is not what they know or not know…the secret is what they are WILLING to do.
If they are not willing, it doesn’t matter how cool the idea is or how practical it is, it will not be embraced. However, once they commit to moving positively, a consultant can help identify bottlenecks, implement a “system”, tweak it, and help them avoid the potential problems may be around the corner. This is where experience helps a lot and cannot be found in a book. I believe 30% of what I do as a consultant is canned – and right out of a book, the other 30% is what the client knows and want to do, the rest of the 40% is my experience and knowledge.
Depending on the type of consulting, I prefer not to tell clients what to do. Why? Because to be honest, they can find that in a book and it is much better for me to just point them to it. Most time, I find more satisfaction and the client will get more achieved if I walk with them to the destination, instead of pointing the way…
So if a client wants me to tell them the time and that is “all” they want, I will. Most time, they need more and I prefer to be the clock builder. I want to get my hands dirty and also see things moving and working like they should. Although it doesn’t always go 100% the way I would like to see it, getting close enough is good enough for me.
Perhaps this desire to be the clock builder and not simple a time-teller is because I have more energy than I know what to do with.
It's nice to be able to write again…
Ok…so what have I been up to? Well I have been consulting for an engineering company. It was a 4 month project that was suppose to end mid December. Today was my last day of transitioning my responsibility…Another successful project!
I am going to have some more time to write and do other consulting. The new company I launched with my long time partner Mike Greening and a new partner Joshua Eckstyne won a grant so that has been keeping us busy as well. It’s pretty exciting because of the potential this new project has. We were able to licence out our software to a major State University and have been contacted by another University to help them with branding using our online platform.
I had the privilege of giving a negotiation workshop to a group of business owners through Synergy Sessions a week ago. I will write about that soon and share some insights.
Social Media Seminar – We took a risk and…it paid off!
So last Thursday I had the privileged of moderating the Social Media Seminar For the Montgomery Chamber of Commerce in conjunction with the Business Expo. The panel is listed on the previous blog.
When I had spoken with Catherine Sutton from the Chamber a month ago, the panel was going to each spend 10 min giving a presentation. After forty to fifty minutes, there would be a Q and A session.
That just didn’t seem to sit right with me so I made a few suggestions and Catherine was very willing to try them out. I wanted the interaction to mimic social media. I was not sure that Catherine would go with it. It was going to be a risk because it was the first time we met and we had never worked together before. Apart from the faux pas I made addressing her when it started, I think it went rather well. This is what we did:
- Instead of me introducing the panel, it was much more effective having the panel introduce themselves briefly. It saved me from memorizing or making a statement about their achievements and credentials only to have them say “Oh, if only half of that was true…” in order to be modest. This panel would never do that but why take that chance.
- We nixed the podium. Rather we sat comfortably and interacted with them at a peer level. Sharing information. It was an attempt at mimicking social media.
- I gave out my mobile number (should have used google voice’s instead) and my twitter account. Attendants could tweet, text or simply put their hands up. This way they could take their time to formulate it and not interrupt the panel of other attendants. It also prevent them from simply giving up when they failed to see an opening to ask their questions. That went very well and NRVLiving broke the ice and tweeted…
- I am sure you recall a time when you spoke and did not realize the time. In order to prevent boring the audience, I gave the panel a hands signal which essentially meant ” wrap it up” and pass the mic back to me. The panel was exceptionally responsive to that made my job very easy and enjoyable. We even had many instances of some friendly banter.
- I had the privilege of knowing most of the panel and we had the chance to have lunch earlier at Jane Dalier’s of the Valley Business Front. She was an exceptional host and the food and conversation was very stimulating.
- During the event, Anne and Lynda suggested texting people at the expo and the first one that came in won a $10.00 prize. It was spontaneous – and the audience and panel had fun with that.
I am looking forward to moderating more events open to this kind of response, energy, humor, and interaction. It was definitely a social event! The hour and a half went so fast we hardly noticed it. We forgot to take a break!
One word to describe the event – “Extemporaneous”.
4 Reasons to attend this Social Media Seminar
Social media the last few years have gone viral…pun intended. It seems everywhere you turn, there it is. I was asked to be on the social media panel for the NCTC (New River Corridor Technology Council) a couple weeks ago. This week I will be moderating a panel consisting of bloggers, SEO experts, social media experts for the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce.
You think you know “social media” till you have to be on a panel or have to moderate one. I have learnt more in the last couple weeks than I have in the last year. I am not an expert nor do I claim to be one. It is just an intriguing area for me and I use it often. As an entrepreneur, a business advisor and coach, I have to ask myself and others that are experts in this area some tough questions:
1. What are the security issues surrounding social media
2. How to create an effective social media strategy for your company
3. How to leverage it effectively and efficiently to get your message across and to interact and dialog with the group of people that COUNT
4. Finally with regards to marketing – what is the ROI and how to measure it…
The panelist are:
1. Anne Giles Clelland is the former founder of business new site Handshake 2.0 (www.handshake20.com ) and the President and CEO of Handshake Media, Inc., which is a new media PR firm.
2. Janeson Keeley is the owner of JTKWeb in Roanoke where she specializes in Web site development and search engine optimizations. She is also the founder of TweetVA (www.tweetva.com ).
3. Dan Smith is the editor and co-owner of Valley Business FRONT. He has been a journalist for more than 40 years and is the founder of the Roanoke Regional Writers Conference.
4. Lynda McNutt Foster is with Fast Training which is a one stop source for small business. They utilize Synergy Sessions (www.synergysessions.org) that focus on tools and techniques that promote education and collaboration for small business owners.
I am looking forward to asking some tough questions and learning from these experts. Feel free to let me know if you have anything you would like me to ask the panelists.
4 Reasons to attend this Social Media Seminar
Social media the last few years have gone viral…pun intended. It seems everywhere you turn, there it is. I was asked to be on the social media panel for the NCTC (New River Corridor Technology Council) a couple weeks ago. This week I will be moderating a panel consisting of bloggers, SEO experts, social media experts for the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce.
You think you know “social media” till you have to be on a panel or have to moderate one. I have learnt more in the last couple weeks than I have in the last year. I am not an expert nor do I claim to be one. It is just an intriguing area for me and I use it often. As an entrepreneur, a business advisor and coach, I have to ask myself and others that are experts in this area some tough questions:
1. What are the security issues surrounding social media
2. How to create an effective social media strategy for your company
3. How to leverage it effectively and efficiently to get your message across and to interact and dialog with the group of people that COUNT
4. Finally with regards to marketing – what is the ROI and how to measure it…
The panelist are:
1. Anne Giles Clelland is the former founder of business new site Handshake 2.0 (www.handshake20.com ) and the President and CEO of Handshake Media, Inc., which is a new media PR firm.
2. Janeson Keeley is the owner of JTKWeb in Roanoke where she specializes in Web site development and search engine optimizations. She is also the founder of TweetVA (www.tweetva.com ).
3. Dan Smith is the editor and co-owner of Valley Business FRONT. He has been a journalist for more than 40 years and is the founder of the Roanoke Regional Writers Conference.
4. Lynda McNutt Foster is with Fast Training which is a one stop source for small business. They utilize Synergy Sessions (www.synergysessions.org) that focus on tools and techniques that promote education and collaboration for small business owners.
I am looking forward to asking some tough questions and learning from these experts. Feel free to let me know if you have anything you would like me to ask the panelists.
5 reasons people fail to meet their goals
By following the acronym S.M.A.R.T., one can avoid setting oneself for failure. S.M.A.R.T. stand for specific, measurable, attainable, result oriented and timely goals. This subject of goal setting inevitably comes up as I work with companies and their executives. It seems to be the exercise of choice for a strategic planning session, yet many of these goals go unmet.
Goal setting has the tendency to bring out the finger-pointing-blame-game in some people. During my years as a consultant, executives and managers would share a list of historical and lofty goals with me…which have usually gone unmet. The general feelings are “if I do not do it myself, it will not get done”…at least not get done properly. I am sure you have seen that. This causes disillusionment and saps moral and motivation.
The reasons companies/executives fail to meet their goals are many. Here are 5:
1. They are not SPECIFIC enough.
2. They are not MEASURABLE or being measured.
3. They are not attainable or ACHIEVABLE. They may be too lofty or idealistic.
4. They have not identified the RESULTS they want to achieve.
5. Finally, they do not TIME or have a deadline for meeting those goals.
Jim Flowers, the Executive Director for the Virginia Tech Knowledge Works at the Corporate Research Center, is often heard saying, “Inherent in every goal is permission to stop trying”. The first time I had the chance to hear it was at an Entrepreneur Summit in 2009. His alternative to “setting goals” was “making commitments”.
This reminds me of the World Cup Soccer games taking place in South Africa. Why does the US team consistently concede the first goal to the other team? Is this the underdog mindset? Even the commentators say, “It seems like the team is still on the bus during the first half.” Can this be a commitment issue? What would be necessary for then to be willing to take and maintain the lead?
Ask yourself the same questions: What is preventing you from meeting and exceeding your goals?
Allan is available for consulting/coaching and can be reached here.
The toughest part of making a decision.
Decision making is easy if the choices are obvious. Choosing between having dimsum (A Cantonese breakfast/brunch) versus say hot pockets would be a no brainer for me. However for many people I work with, the decisions they have to make is not so clear.
You have to weigh the financial outcome, the people involved, your wants, your needs, how you would be viewed, your work load, how that is going to commit you for the coming days, weeks, years etc.
When I help people make decisions, because I am the uncommitted party, it all seems clear to me. However for the person making that decision, that is quite a stressful process. Sometimes, they actually sit and sweat while they think about it. They lose sleep at night.They pace back and forth, and you start seeing signs of burn out.
The toughest part of the whole process though, is right before the decision. That is when I see the most resistance and the hardest push back. Why? It seems people feel that once they make that decision, they are committed, they are locked in, now they have it written or verbalized or documented on a plan, that it. It is the fear of making a mistake…a huge one…the earth shattering one.
Well, let me put it this way. I have yet to meet someone that has not made a huge mistake. I myself included. Many have made mistakes that haunts them for years, costing them their family, their livelihood, their friends, their children and the list goes on.
But…let me put you at ease, there are hardly any mistakes you can make that can not be corrected with future decisions. The results of those horrifying mistakes are the accumulations of one bad one after another. One key ingredient in reducing (I did not say eliminate) these devastating mistakes in in surrounding yourself with trusted advisors preferably with contrary views. That way you have more data to work with.
Jim Flowers once said (okay more than once), “you cannot make decisions for others, you can only provide them with more data”. But I believe he attributed that saying to Arthur Scharff.
The option is not always “aim and shoot” or “shoot, then aim”. It can be aim…shoot…aim…shoot…
The No A**hole Rule…
From time to time, you see a book with a catching title. It may not be politically correct but that is how people should work – not with a**holes. You can see this book on Amazon.com. It’s called The No @#!*% Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t.
Bob Sutton’s List of The Dirty Dozen Common Everyday Actions That A**holes Use
1. Personal insults
2. Invading one’s personal territory
3. Uninvited personal contact
4. Threats and intimidation, both verbal and non-verbal
5. Sarcastic jokes and teasing used as insult delivery systems
6. Withering email flames
7. Status slaps intended to humiliate their victims
8. Public shaming or status degradation rituals
9. Rude interruptions
10. Two-faced attacks
11. Dirty looks
12. Treating people as if they are invisible
I have actually come across people that know they are hard-to-work-with and expect people to put up with them. For some strange reason, although they hold grudges against many around them, they expect people to oversee their problems in order to work with them. They seem to have something negative to say about most individuals and groups of people.
Hey as a business advisor, coach and a recruiter for consultants, fortunately I do not have to put up with a**holes but they do work hard to enter my life.
Anyone who works for someone or have someone working for them should read this. But if you know me, you know how I feel. A good idea is useless unless it is put into action. It’s the activator within me.
Ideas Meet Action 