Middlefocus

Stored in their original cardboard posting box for 75 years, twelve books of the Live Successfully! educational course show that personal development literature was going strong in the 1930s. What was the advice given then? Is it still relevant? That will be the focus of a series of posts on this blog over the months ahead. Cardboard box with 1938 postmark over George VI stamp The course was published by  Odhams Press , an innovative business that eventually succumbed to financial pressures and ceased trading in 1969. The constituent books are still in circulation though, fetching £5 each at some online booksellers. Most are uncertain about the date of publication.  There is a copyright reference, G638, that may mean something specific to those in the publishing trade.  However, the postmark is clear evidence that they were around in the 1930s - a decade characterised by devastating economic decline, still referred to as the Great Depression .   ...

When travelling, it's a custom in our family to pick up a souvenir or two of the places we visit and usually these take the form of prints, drawings or ceramics. Nothing too expensive mind but we do aim to go for the highest quality at the best price. Stopping at the stall of a local artist on a recent trip we were surprised to see a notice stating, "Pay whatever you like". An interesting and unusual concept. Engaging him in conversation, he explained that he wasn't alone in taking this approach.  He pointed out that some musicians, restaurants and even hotels were offering similar "payment" arrangements. This seemed a long way from the story I once heard about an event where the price of the cold, soft drink rose in line with the temperature in the stadium.  It is also quite commonplace for the price of hotel rooms to rise in relation to the importance of events going on in their area.  The inevitable law of supply and demand. The artist...

  Hadn't realised just how much fun a packet of Starburst could be as an icebreaker with small groups. Each wrapper is printed with a dare/task that you must do if you pick that sweet. There's nothing too strenuous and it's good fun. Alternatively there are four colours in each packet, and depending upon which colour is picked so each group member can be asked to reveal something about themselves.... I recently co-facilitated a session with my colleague Beth... She allocated these tasks to each colour: What Starburst tasks/dares would you pick? Got some? C'mon share!   Posted with Blogsy

On a day trip to Carlingford, County Louth spotted this handwritten notice on the glass door of the  Oystercatcher restaurant.... Simple, fun, effective.....

There are lots of trees near our home and the morning air is filled with the sounds of birds that inhabit them. Many different varieties are regular visitors to our garden and bring with them their instinctive pecking order. Recently there have been some brightly coloured newcomers that we did not recognise and decided to look up in a reference book of birds. While the book might be a helpful reference for experienced bird watchers it's not so practical for us as the pictures are in black and white. More practical is a no longer updated reference point on a BBC website page It not only shows colour pictures but provides a sound recording of each bird. Listening to those recordings brought to mind a piece of advice i was once given on how to slow down a busy lifestyle and be in the moment. The advice was simple: When you hear a bird, look for it. Now that's easy for the large doves that think they own our property and for the magpies that cackle noisy warnings of approa...

We had some electricians at home recently.  They were fitting extra power points and  we talked about where the new sockets would be positioned.  That decided we also agreed that rather than remove some existing sockets we would leave them in place in case they were needed.  The electrician sparked something in my mind when he said, "Better looking at it than looking for it!" That got me to thinking about applying that notion to working life; to office equipment in general and desktop organisation in particular.  How much time do we spend looking for one item or another that if it was close to hand might actually make us more time-effective?  Where do we keep that stuff?  On the desktop? In a drawer?  And if it is shared office equipment, are we quick to return it to where we got it?  That brings to mind another piece of homespun wisdom, "A place for everything and everything in its place?" Question? What items of office equipment do...

  A friend of mine, a former co-worker, turned natural curiosity to advantage and avoided a potential embarrassment. What would you do if you saw an envelope labelled like this on a desk? I couldn't resist it for long and so approached him and said, "I have to ask...what's in this envelope?" He asked me if I was sure I wanted to know. Then he said that before he showed me I must agree not to tell any of our co-workers. I agreed. The envelope contained... A book of ballots! One of his children had asked him to sell some at work and that was something he really didn't like doing. So rather than ask around, he avoided embarrassment by posting this envelope near his desk where it would be easily visible. Colleagues saw it and approached him. Of course I bought some, kept quiet and by the end of the day the envelope was down, mission accomplished. Clever? I think so. I wonder in what ways middle leaders could arouse curiosity in their workplace. How might...

Entreprendre: It's a verb that had given us the word entrepreneur with all its many connotations of business success. It is reported that George Bush once complained that the problem with the French is that they don't have a word for entrepreneur although the truth of this statement is contested here . The noun has come to mean many things since it was first coined back in the early 18 century. See Wikipedia article here I like the French verb entreprendre. It breaks nicely into two parts, between and to take. To take between. For middle leaders, managing their teams and being managed themselves the verb seems appropriate. Taking between. Does that make middle leaders/managers entrepreneurs? Posted with Blogsy