Blog
The Lucky Country (WT580)
When I was starting to go out on my own with girlfriends we went to a pub in Newcastle called The Lucky Country. At the time I didn’t think anything of it. It was just a name. That’s all changed now, especially with Covid19. As we’ve travelled around Australia for the past two and a half years we’ve experienced many places; some hot and humid, some freezing cold, wet and windy, others dry and desolate. Some places were tiny, like where we are tonight at Venus Bay in the Eyre Peninsula of South Australia; full time population about 30. Other places have been bustling with lots to do and...
Careful What You Focus On (WT579)
I was chatting with our neighbours in the caravan park at Yulara, Northern Territory (near Uluru), when a lady came up and told us that she had been robbed the night before. Thieves had stolen her husband’s beer from their $2,000 fridge plus a 6 pack that had been left outside. The thieves left the fridge. When I shared this story with Ross, he said he had heard that same lady asking some other neighbours about security the day before. Be careful what you focus on because you get whatever it is you focus on, especially what you fear. Fear is such a powerful vibration and our vibrations...
Recruit for the Role (WT578)
Last week in our online training I provided a formula for finding, hiring and keeping the right people. What I’ve found as I’ve worked with hundreds, if not thousands of companies over the years is that many are still making the mistake of hiring the person instead of hiring for the role. What do I mean by this? Many are still hiring people that they know and then do their best to create a role to suit the person. I have to be clear about this. This is the wrong way to hire. The first thing you want to do is to map your processes to work out the tasks and standards that are required of the...
Are You Open to Receiving? (WT577)
Wow! What a couple of weeks we’ve had. We’d been at the van park in Darwin for a few days when we found out at midday on a Sunday that we were going into lockdown at 1pm that day. That was an hour later. Ross and I were in a panic. We’d also been told that the supermarkets were going to close and we had little fresh food in the motorhome. As we were frantically packing up the motorhome to drive to the shops one of the neighbours came over and offered for us to go with them. “Yes please!” we smiled. We were so grateful. When we got to the shops there was a line up to get into Woolworths...
Everything is Draft – Until it is Final (WT576)
You know that I do a lot of systems and procedures work for clients. One of my mantras is “Everything is draft – until it’s Final”. I often say this to my clients because they can be reluctant to provide feedback if we haven’t quite gotten the procedure down pat. I don’t take offence. I prefer to get the procedures correct rather than having unhappy clients because they don’t speak up. What I’ve found is that often we need to encourage people to speak up. Many won’t speak up because they are afraid of hurting our feelings. Once I give people permission and even encouragement to speak up, I...
Nobody is Helping (WT575)
We were stopped at the traffic lights on a hot and humid Friday afternoon in Darwin. “OMG! Ross”, I yelled, “Nobody is helping” as I pointed to a young guy who was laying underneath his motorbike at the traffic lights on the side street to us. As we were waiting for the lights to turn green I watched in horror as I saw the guy and the bike fall over. I was stunned that nobody rushed to help. There was a car in front of him and a car behind him and a long line of traffic. Our lights turned green and we crossed the intersection and pulled up. Without thinking, I jumped out of the van and ran...
Polite Doesn’t Mean Pushover (WT574)
I was conducting a recruitment interview for a client today. I asked the candidate to explain his definition of “Assertive”. “It’s someone who is quite forceful in getting their way”, he replied. “Wow”, I thought to myself. “That’s not my definition.” To be assertive means to be honest and congruent. It means that you get your needs met AND not at the expense of others. In order to get your needs met you need to: Be aware of your needsTake responsibility for getting your needs met, andUse your communication skills (I Messages, Active Listening and Conflict Resolution Skills as examples)....
If It Was Easy Everyone Would Do It (WT573)
We’re talking about leadership and management of course. It’s not for everyone. It’s not an easy role to have. I remember when Ross was promoted to the Site Supervisor’s role. He had no idea how to lead and manage his team. He did what most new leaders and managers do. He treated his team the way he had been treated in the past. Working in male dominated heavy industry, he yelled a lot. He swore a lot and he was passive aggressive. He hadn’t had any training and he would come home to me and tell me about his day. I would cringe listening to him as he recounted the events of the day and how...
It’s 11 Years (WT572)
Have you ever started something without any expectation? Maybe you started going to the gym and then found that a few years later you’re still going to the gym. Well, to my surprise and delight, that’s what has happened for me with the Weekly Thought. I started writing a Weekly Thought to my database 11 years ago. When I started I didn’t know how long I would keep going; that would depend on the readers and whether my thoughts were of interest. And here we are 11 years later and I haven’t missed one single week in all that time. I have to say, I’m impressed. I can count on one hand the...
See Ya Tomorrow (WT571)
“See ya tomorrow.” “No You Won’t” replied Ross. “I don’t think so”, was my reply to the bar attendant as she closed the door on us to make sure we couldn’t enter. It was the local bowling club at a very tiny town on the northern New South Wales coast. It wasn’t even 6:30pm. We had been told the Chinese Restaurant was supposed to be re-opening after a long time shut with COVID and renovations so we thought we would go along and support them. We walked down the hill to see 3 cars in the carpark and a sign to say re-opening in 2 days time. “Oh well”, we thought, “while we’re here, we’ll support...