Sunday, October 12, 2008

Inspire Your Team at Year-End



Following their really inspiring workshops earlier this year, Ben and Ros Zander will both be back in Cape Town in December. They'll be running their fantastic "Art of Possibility" workshop in Cape Town on 1 Dec and Joburg on 3 Dec. Those of you who are wondering what to do for your company year-end function: take your team to the Zanders' Art of Possibility Workshop, followed by lunch, and they'll all be motivated to end the year with a bang and dive into 2009 with inspired, out-of-the box thinking. I attended in August, and it was fantastic.

To book for your team, go here.
For more about the Zanders, go here and here.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Get real! What do you REALLY Want?

If you haven't got what you want, it's probably because you haven't decided specifically what you want. When we feel stuck we're often very clear on what we DON'T WANT, but when I ask my clients, "so what do you want instead?" they often look at me as though I just asked them when last they cleaned their toenails. Then they spew out a few vague ideas and hope I'll drop the line of questions. But I stay with it, because I know that probably the most important driver of change is having a clear, detailed outcome.

Seth Godin's blog this week addresses the importance of being really specific, and creating a really clear, detailed outcome picture - for the purpose of marketing, leadership and getting people to buy into your version of the future. The same principle applies for personal change - "if you want yourself to embrace your version of the future, talk about it like it's right around the corner, not on another planet."

Because we like what's familiar. In fact we like it so much, we gravitate towards it and we seek to repeat it - even if it wasn't ideal. One way that you can get familiar with the version of the future that you really want is by articulating a detailed picture of that future - the more detailed and specific you are, the more familiar and close that future will seem, and the more effortlessly you'll get there.