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The ‘S’ in the SARAH model refers to ‘Shock’.
This may come in varying degrees, depending on how sudden or major the change really is. If the grapevine has been flowing with talk of impending change then it may reduce the shock factor once the change is more formally announced.
However, this is no reason to hope that the grapevine mitigates the shock. In fact, allowing the grapevine to disseminate information about impending change is a bad idea. You no longer have control over what is said, you can’t respond to people’s reactions and you might as well not be reading about the SARAH model!
People in shock will respond with extreme emotion – whether very loud or very quiet. The way to help overcome is:
- re-iterate the big picture – let them know it isn’t a personal vendetta
- be empathetic by acknowledging how they feel – this will get loud people to quieten down and quiet people to express their feelings.
- reinforce that you are there to work through this time with them
- stress that change is often a positive thing even if we can’t see it at the moment
I was lucky enough to be at a lecture the other day being given by Joe Simpson. For those of you who don’t know Joe, he is famous for his attempt to climb the Peruvian mountain Siula Grande with his climbing partner Simon Yates in 1985. They succeeded where many had failed but an unfortunate accident on the way down led to Joe breaking his leg. Simon attempted to get him back down the mountain but during a bad storm and poor visibility he lowered Joe over a ledge on a rope, the rope got caught and after 1.5 hours of holding the rope Simon knew he had to cut it to survive. Joe fell but somehow managed to survive the fall and the rest of the story, as detailed in the book and film ”Touching the Void”, is about Joe’s struggle to drag himself down the mountain. Against all the odds both climbers lived to tell the tale.
I’d already seen the film a number of times, and we’re all big fans of the story here at Marton House so I was particularly pleased to discover I was going to hear Joe give a motivational speech. I wasn’t disappointed either. Joe spoke for over an hour and recounted the tale with little emotion, a difficult thing considering what he went through and it was a truly enlightening experience.
This post isn’t about what a great motivational speaker Joe is, though I’d highly recommend seeing him if you can, this post is about one tiny little thing he said about his experience.
As motivational speakers we quite often use a mountain as a metaphor, in fact one of our friends Clay Lowe uses it in situ as he takes his students up the side of Mount Snowdon. However is reaching the top all it’s cracked up to be?
When Joe and Simon reached the top of Siula Grande they had a brief moment of elation, they reveled in the views and then they suddenly realised there was nowhere else to go – apart from down. This was the only point during his presentation he looked slightly emotional and he claimed this realisation was a crushing blow for both of them. On the way back down hardly a word was uttered until the fateful accident happened.
Is it lonely at the top? Does part of us die when we get there? How can we eliminate these feelings?
Always having a goal is part of the answer, something that is difficult in mountaineering as every journey has a beginning and an end. When we went up the mountain with Clay we didn’t make it to the top, a crushing blow for us but did the experience bring us closer and make us stronger as a team because of the failure?
You can read more about Joe and Simon’s story here and here.
I’ve spoken on here regularly about my early rising antics and about how well it works to put me in the right state of mind for work. This morning I rose 15 minutes earlier than usual with the hope of achieving even more.
This mornings objective was to go for a run. It was only the second time in my life I’ve been out on the streets for a jog, the last time I think I was in my early twenties and my camera lecturer at film school told me I needed to get into better shape to operate a TV camera… obviously it didn’t last long but that is probably down to lack of knowledge about how to jog. On that occasion I ran solidly for 30 minutes and returned home an absolute wreck.
This time its different and with a bit more guidance and I made it through a 30 minute programme without feeling too bad at the end. If fact after I recovered I felt incredibly refreshed and ready for the day, and I feel I made even better use of my morning time.
The most difficult thing is dragging myself out of bed to go out running, but put simply it’s only another 15 minutes at the front end of my day and if it make me feel better and work better it can only be a good thing.
Tomorrow is a day off and then back out on the streets again on Saturday. Will I be so keen then I wonder?
I overslept this morning. I Hate it when that happens. Oversleeping for me though doesn’t usually mean waking up at 8:58am and rushing off to working without cleaning my teeth, when that rare treat happens it really freaks me out. In my terminology oversleeping means only having 30 minutes or so thinking/personal time.
I get up every day at 6:45am. This gives me 1.5 hours to do whatever the heck I want – eat breakfast, watch the news, relax, do some research, prepare for the day etc.
This thinking time is invaluable for me, it really gives me a chance to reflect on the day ahead. Also I find it gives me time to fully awaken. How many people just roll into work half asleep? If I miss out on this time I find it has a dramatic impact on my productivity for the rest of the day.
The knock on effect happens at the other end of the day though and I often find myself getting tired around 9:30pm and then becoming more active again at 10:30, something I’ve talked about before here.
Trouble is as I get older I’m finding it more difficult as my normal time for going to bed is around midnight.
I read something the other day though which challenged these preconceptions. Steve Pavlina is a successful blogger who specializes in self development techniques. The difference with Steve is that he doesn’t recommend stuff unless he has thoroughly tested it himself.
Some of Steve’s favourite experiments are around sleep. He’s tried all kinds of things, including the controversial polyphasic sleep where you sleep regularly for only 20 minutes.
In this particular post Steve recommends going to bed when you are tired but always setting an alarm and getting up at the same time every day. This means some days you will get more sleep and some days less but hopefully it should be self regulating. This technique does rely on self motivation though, which means when the alarm goes off you get up straight away. Don’t hit the snooze button!
I tried this technique last Friday night as I knew I had a busy day on Saturday with a lot to fit in. My body said I was tired at 9:30pm, so begrudgingly I went straight to bed. Part of me was thinking I would be missing out on doing some great things by going to bed at this stupidly early time but to counter this I set an alarm for 6am to give me more time before the day really started.
The experiment was a success. I woke up when my alarm rang, leapt straight out of bed and felt immediately refreshed. I then did all those things I felt I was missing out on the night before, but with a fresher perspective. Then I had an incredibly productive day, fitting in much more than I expected.
Obviously a one day trial does not equal a successful experiment but I’m going to continue with a full trial starting tonight. More as it happens.
Say No to Yes!
The impact of saying yes to everything you are asked to do can be catastrophic. It can cause undue stress, mistakes and serious time management issues.
How often has somebody poked their head in to ask what is in their mind is a quick question, which in actual fact turns into a major task for you?
In reality situations like these can take you away from more important, more pressing work.
The trick is recognising, and filtering the stuff you can deal with and turning down the things that could mean you not getting home until the small hours.
Obviously you don’t want to become known as the person in the office that says “no” to everything.
For the “nice” people who like to say yes it’s no easy task just to get the letters N-O over your lips so the “yes guys” over at Lifehack.org have compiled a list of ways to let people down gently.
Picking up from The Gorv’s comment on yesterdays post I think there is more to “learning 387.0″ than meets the eye.
Generally everyone loves a term, something catchy, a container that describes what’s inside in a quick, snappy phrase.
Does “learning 387.0″ cut the mustard?
I quite like it. It has a certain lovely, meaningful yet sarcastic ring to it. Ok, so probably not quite the buzzwords we are looking for.
Let’s have a look at learning’s journey (a bit like the title of this blog may suggest), and give it a scientific twist.
Imagine a classroom filled with pupils and a teacher at the front with a blackboard. The teacher has a set lesson plan and teaches the class by telling and showing. There is no listening from the teacher, no questioning allowed and no feedback on whether the training works or not. As an alternative the teacher could wheel in a TV and video to the front of the class, stick a tape in, press play and walk out again.
This is one way learning. It’s one dimensional with information only traveling outwards from the assumed subject expert.
Adding another dimension means information suddenly goes both ways in the form of questions from the students and answers from the teacher. It may also feature tests which are an obvious and effective way of measuring learning. This is effectively 2D but as with anything 2D it’s a rather flat experience.
3D learning occurs when we have information going both ways on the 2D plane and there is a third source which is referred to from within the classroom and delivered from the outside. Think of this as every student having a computer connected to the internet and using it as a library to support and increase the knowledge given within the class. This form of learning has a much greater depth.
In science terms the forth dimension is all about space and time. This is similar for learning too. 4D learning is all about the ability to bend and distort the learning experience and sometimes fold it all the way back into itself. It’s about coming at learning from all angles. Now in our classroom we still have our teacher and our students but the teacher isn’t the only expert in the room and they are also open to furthering their knowledge on a particular subject. Learning here is all about sharing. What happens in the class doesn’t stay in the class and on the outside the whole world can share, participate and add to the learning experience.
Let’s take an example of a wiki on dog training. The teacher kicks the wiki off by adding some core content. The students then begin to add to the wiki maybe with what they already know, maybe with what they discover en route. This wiki can be seen by the whole world and suddenly you have other dog handlers and trainers adding to it. Sometimes information given can be incorrect, maybe not now but maybe in the future. Say for example a chihuahua will always perform a trick for a juicy bone, somebody makes a note of this on the wiki and the information is shared. Maybe in 100 years time the whole chihuahua breed has become vegetarian and that information is void but the wiki still exists. No problem, time is bent, the wiki is adjusted and then the information is up to date again. The beauty is that everyone who is subscribe to this wiki via RSS will be updated when a change happens so the learner is never left behind.
So you see 4D Learning is all about being user driven. It’s about a multi-way experience which is constantly changing, evolving and responding to learners input and support.
Can you get any better than 4D Learning? Will there be a fifth dimension? Absolutely not. By it’s very nature 4D Learning in itself is also constantly changing, evolving and improving. As a result it is a term that adapts and grow as and when necessary.
This is obviously just my opinion, not news. Is it just fluff or do we actually need a term to create hooks? If I’m going into a client meeting with either the term “learning” or “4D learning” I know I’d have much more success with generating excitement from the latter.
Marton House’s patent for the term “4D Learning” is pending… in my mind at least.
Image from wikipedia
It seems that our colleague Clayton Lowe is on the brink of becoming a hedonist.
He’s also on his way to visit us at Marton House Towers today.
Not that the two are linked… least I hope not.
It’s a sad day today here at Marton House as one of our team is moving on to pastures new.
You may know her as Binsey in the blog-o-sphere but here at MH towers she is affectionately known by her real name, Sarah.
Sarah has been working with us here for three and a half years now and during that time has proven herself to be an invaluable asset. She is a team player and also a leader, but more than that she is one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet.
The loss will not only be felt by us here it will also be a great loss to readers of this blog as Binsey was one of the most regular contributers to The Learning Journey.
She is off to take on the role of Head of Learning & Development for a national high street fashion company. The allure of the job is obvious: new challenges, greater responsibility and a hefty discount off her clothes shopping bill!
Sarah, we wish you every success in your new career.
We is gonna miss ya!
When it comes to the 4 influencing styles one of the most natural for many is Energising. Part of Energising is of course painting pictures – the ability to show others what a great future could look like. It’s a little bit of storytelling combined with a little bit of lying, or at least embellishing on what might be (think Baron Münchhausen combined with a politician).
So we do it regularly in order to influence others towards success but how often do we paint pictures for ourselves?
Take a minute out from your busy schedule today to imagine what could be. Paint a really great picture of what you want life to be like, you’ll be surprised at what you can achieve. We must truly know and understand the goal before we can make decisions upon which road to tread towards success.
If we can’t motivate ourselves how can we be expected to motivate others?
The picture above is Bob Ross, a man who accomplished great things by painting real pictures. His TV show, The Joy of Painting ran for 12 years from 1983 until his untimely death in 1995 and influenced many along the way to change their lives for the better through the simple medium of painting. For Ross every picture he painted told a story, which he proclaimed was one of the most important things when it came to painting as it would motivate the painter to complete the painting and discover how the story ends.
If Ross motivated millions by painting pictures is it really so hard just to motivate ourselves with our own picture?
From Dictionary.com:
ear·nest1 
[ur-nist] Pronunciation Key – Show IPA Pronunciation –adjective
| 1. | serious in intention, purpose, or effort; sincerely zealous: an earnest worker. |
| 2. | showing depth and sincerity of feeling: earnest words; an earnest entreaty. |
| 3. | seriously important; demanding or receiving serious attention. |
I’ve just come back from a weeks holiday and during that period I had too much much time to think as I rolled paint onto the walls of my lounge – I’ve been decorating you see.
Allow me to paint you a fuller picture (I’m good at painting now you know!), using my decorating antics as an example. I recently moved house and the property I’ve moved into needs decorating from top to bottom, even though what is currently there is perfectly acceptable. We decided that the lounge was the first place to tackle as we could live in the dining room whilst the lounge was being decorated. So both myself and my girlfriend took a week off work in order to achieve this.
Our earnest attitude to each other was this:
- Intent – to decorate one room within one week
- Purpose - to create a space that is uniquely ours
Having a goal can make you more earnest and we both had individual goals which would lead to the same overall outcome. For my girlfriend it was having the room of her dreams with a working fire. For me it was finally getting my mits on a new LCD TV to finish the room off. Either way it was an honest reward, and that meant we would work harder in order to achieve our goals. She knew what I wanted and I knew what she wanted and we both knew we wouldn’t let the other down.
Being earnest isn’t about rewards though but having a goal does help you work all the more earnestly with better intentions.
Earnest is really a nice, old-fashioned term which rarely sees the light of day in the modern world. An earnest person is an honest, trustworthy person with a hard-working attitude.
The word earnest has a warm, cosy, friendly feel something you don’t normally associate with high flyers and modern business. Earnest is your best friend. Earnest is the person who will never let you down.
Ernest is also the fastest milkman in the west… and if you’re old enough to remember what I’m referring to there, good for you friend.
I’m campaigning to bring earnest back into the workplace.
Are you earnest enough?
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