Comments

Tom

I like the 20 minute drive quote!

I do not like the 5000 miles for a five minute meeting quote

You can walk around and be face to face in a virtual world, the mac comes with the camera built in, to enable this, I have married friends one of whom works in London the other in Moscow, face to face time so precious to them is faciltated through this medium?

It is not embracing the changes technology are striving to support, I believe in MBWA but I am currently wandering all over your web page? and engaging with all of those on this blog without once getting on a plane or in my car, that's OK too?

I guess I am thinking of something like "How green is your CEO?"

Drives a hybrid/or cycles/or walks?
Recycles
Innovates and creates green thinking and policies
....

this isn't concluded thinking but this small element of your presentation is somehow giving me some bile, sorry!!!!

Enjoy the day

Patrick

Posted by Patrick at January 15, 2008 10:38 AM

Tom:

Great stuff....serendipitously, had a conversation with some Israeli friends just yesterday regarding the differences in "error trapping" between the civilian/military aviation environments and health care, both of which deal with life and death decisions on a daily basis. While avaiation spends a great deal of time and effort doing both simulation training and post-incident/mission diagnosis and post-mortems, the health care fierld is largely OJT in its' resident training and blame adverse when things go wrong.

An Israeli military pilot turned-doctor noticed this difference in approaches and has created a COE & training environment heavily based on simulation and role-playing. Apparently the Mayo Clinic is one of the early adopters of the approach here in the U.S..

Wonder if we couldn't use something similar for general business management trsining?

Posted by gregggallagher at January 15, 2008 11:22 AM

Terrific comment gregggallagher

Training of medical staff in the UK until very recently was very much based on the model;

See one
Do one
Teach one

Of course those docs keen on their professional development always did actively seek out the right courses – and they are not the real problem because they are motivated. On the job training as you rightly say is where most docs seem to look for their development and most of the time I think that works well.

BUT….

I did some work last year on the new arrangements for revalidation of medics in the UK and Sir Liam Donaldson our Government Chief Medical in his report made the incredible statement that once doctors reach ‘independence’ status – i.e. consultant level – their knowledge, competence, clinical skills or performance are not formally assessed from that point until they retire. That could be 30 years. Contrast that with pilots who are formally assessed up to 100 times in that same time period. Pretty scary thought if you are under the knife as the patient.

The Israeli doctor having seen it from both sides is a great advocate to bring doctor training forward I suggest.

Thank you for educating me gregggallagher

Posted by Trevor Gay at January 15, 2008 12:06 PM

Tom Peters on Implementation is sheer brilliance! I love the stream of consciousness approach, the juxtaposition of symbols, prose, definition, and edge. This implementation is so applicable to every industry. Detroit is desperately in need of it! It brought a personal experience to mind, especially, VFCJ=Volunteer for Crazy Jobs.

When soft skills for the Big Three, for which I had worked, became less and less important and my lucrative training position went from three days a week, to one a week, to one every other month to nothing at all, I was left without employment. My contract with this Big Three Company was my only contract. (A crucial lesson learned.) The Detroit market was bottoming out on many fronts and it was just nearly impossible to find training work.

I took at job, of all places, at a local chain of grocery stores, cleaning floors. The manager offered me a cashier position. I asked him if there were another position that I could do overnight, like cleaning floors. He looked surprised. No woman had ever done this job. (Could I manage a 35 pound piece of equipment for 8 hours? Yep!) Of course, I could do it, even though I had never even had a manual job of any kind before.

I was given the position and learned in no time at all how to use the industrial cleaning and buffing machines. I cleaned 25,000 square feet of floor each night, listening to my walkman, singing softly and smiling and talking to co-workers each time they came in view. (Most were stocking shelves or working in the bakery.) It was a great job! I could do my “professional” work during the day, make some needed cash at night, and build relationships with people that I may not have had the opportunity otherwise. This, I valued.

I had gotten the job down to a science and would actually finish work 2 hours or so early. I would then help the stock teams stock the shelves, something out of my job description. I also noticed that the bathrooms needed cleaning, so I began doing all of the bathrooms each night. And if you no anything about public bathrooms, they are usually a mess! But I rolled up my sleeves, put on a face mask, and listened to music. (I even wished all those who stopped in the stalls each day blessings.)

Well, the owners of the chain of 14 stores began to hear about my work and asked for a meeting. They had come to see my floors and deemed them the best of all the stores. They wanted to know how I was producing such results even in heavy Michigan snows. (The layers of salt drug even from outdoors floored me initially.) The owners also wanted me to train the other 13 floor cleaners, the likes of burly tattoo wearing long haired foul mouthed bikers. I could do this! The owners, by the way, did not even know that that I was a trainer.

I was excited to meet with the owners because I had heard of the difficulties they were anticipating with the soon arrival of a Wal-Mart nearby. While cleaning floors, I was thinking all the while, “How could they offer services that would continue to woo customers to their store?”

The meeting resulted in a multi-million dollar proposal to clean all of their stores and later handle inventory and stock. The owners had told me at the meeting that employees spoke of my kindness, helpfulness and singing. (I wasn’t even aware that I could be heard. Some employees even learned new songs!) And the managers had spoke of my shining floors and willingness to help whenever I could. They wanted to meet me. I did not think of this at all before their request. Our motive should be analyzed as well as our desire to perform well considered.

When I left this position after nine months, I was given a big party and everyone attended. I have kept the many cards that I received and have often thought of the times there that could have been perceived as degrading or invaluable if I would have allowed ego to win or complacency to set in. I was not looking for a contract with the owners, but I was determined not to be defeated and to offer my very best.

I performed my jobs with excellence! X=XFX Excellence = Cross-functional Excellence. I volunteered for crazy jobs. (Cleaning bodily excrement from bathrooms for me was indeed crazy!) But the rewards were so sweet. Many good things follow when excellence is rendered. Thanks, Tom. I cried (I know this sounds pansy-like---hopefully not Hillary-like) reading the beauty of your words, feeling the largeness of your generosity, and the depth of your knowledge. Thanks seem so inadequate.

Posted by Judith Ellis at January 15, 2008 1:56 PM

Tom is so right on the importance of the face to face client meeting in this virtual world.

A client left me a voicemail. He wanted to talk to me about something. We could have done it in a 15 minute ‘phone call or even via email but I said I would pop by their office and chat about it direct.

That turned into a 90 minute meeting with two executives, giving me the chance to find out about their priorities, to learn about a business opportunity and to pitch a new idea to them. I wouldn’t have achieved any of that if I hadn’t initiated the face to face meeting.

Posted by Ian Sanders at January 15, 2008 2:25 PM

Hmmmmmmmmmm Ian, I in principle agree that face to face is good and that can be achieved with technology? Was it chance that the executives happened to be around? The calendar never lies?

The fact my children come home every night with the next green challenge, my wife constantly challenges why I have to go 160 miles to be face to face with clients, and be away from home again! when I work in IT and PC world are offering me high street solutions to this conundrum!

I think from 5 and 7 year olds these are reasonable challenges to both my behaviours, my motivations and my green credentials as they will inherrit whatever is left behind.

Your technology is bereft if you can't achieve any notion of video or one to one conferencing in 2008? You only mention the phone and e-mail and I'd agree neither of these have the value of face to face! But this technology will have to be used more and more having spent 2 hours doing 10 miles on the M25 yesterday, I feel confident that something has to change!!!

SO how green is your business, your behaviours and what was the carbon cost of that deal!

This blog often laments the trials of international travel maybe becasue we aren't accepting of change?

This is still unfinsihed thinking, but I need to fashion the right response not for you or for me but my Daughters!

Have a great day

Patrick

Posted by Patrick at January 15, 2008 2:50 PM

Hi Patrick
some good points raised there; I do not believe in face-to-face for the sake of it nor at the price of the planet and our kid's future (I have 2 young sons). Flying back from NY last year I sat next to a guy in the departure lounge who was boasting (loudly) on his cell phone that he was flying to San Francisco for a "30 minute meeting". I thought to myself, that is nothing to shout about...
As for my own productive face-to-face meeting last week; I walked to the rail station; took a train to London; and then a tube to the offices, so hopefully kept my carbon footprint to a minimum. No road or air miles for that meeting!
You are right - let's look at alternatives to face to face meetings when we can.
best,
Ian

Posted by Ian Sanders at January 15, 2008 3:59 PM

Ian

Thanks for not taking the comments as personal! Just a quick reflection of my own words (I am my own enemy!!! see further down the blog!)

To be honest its just the Super Agent slide 5000 miles for a 5 minute face to face, its just isn't sitting right with me? It must have had a huge value associated with it in £'s or $'s?

Ian thanks for your response, have a great day.

Patrick

Posted by Patrick at January 15, 2008 4:17 PM

great comment gregggallagher. I am a manager and I coach new managers as a sideline. The lack of management vetting and development is massive.

People fall into management (often the only way to progress careers)

Management training is often bitty and unstructured

Beyond a certain level (middle management ish) it seems to be assumed that you are good at this stuff therefore development/training can stop. Some very snr people I have encountered would not get past an interview for Line manager in my book and yet their subordinates are expected to work around and with them not the other way round. It seems as if personal development can stop.

Role plays are used but it tends to be very point focussed. For example take a discipline situation - usually the roleplay is practising 1 conversation with the employee not the whole scenario from beginning to end. This means that the manager can only fail (in the roleplay) at small bits with no sense of how small bits can add up to a lawsuite.

Posted by PaulH at January 16, 2008 5:19 AM