Changeworksblog.com

Ouch my head is hurting today.  I have been doing too much thinking but I haven’t had time to think.  Know what I mean?  Lucky that I stumbled upon this BBC article that gives me five ways to beat the grind and think more clearly: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7530594.stm

Our rational thinking brain needs space for digestion of all the information that we take in.  More importantly by giving our brain more space we give our somatic, feeling mind more space too.  From this space grow great ideas and grounded, authentic communication.

1. Choose your moment – no more skipping lunch.
2. Choose your location – the loo, driving, shower or the train?
3. Have your props to hand – mine’s and Earl grey.
4. Give yourself less to think about – defrag your brain and clear out the hard drive.
5. Have the desire to think – get desperate!

Yes, you have got to take the time to read the full article to get the benefits of this piece: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7530594.stm

I am a fan of Tom Hodgkinson and the Idler.  Read an interview with Tom ‘How to be Idle’.  Check out his Crap Holidays - just to see which you have done!

 Contact me for thoughts and ideas: sue@changeworksblog.com.

Technorati Profile

It is when we are in authentic communication with ourselves that we can operate with integrity and presence in the world. Sometimes we get exquisite moments where we feel truly connected.  Connected to our self, to others and to the world.  Our tasks seem effortless and the fruits of our labour seem to come with a natural ease.  We can get lost in the moment, so that we lose our sense of time, and experience a sense of flow where we are working at the height of our abilities.

I have spent the last eight days on a yoga retreat in the depths of beautiful Kent countryside. As part of this we meditated every morning for 20 minutes, and this has helped me to re-establish a short daily practice again.  Meditation is a highly effective way to achieve this sense of connection. 

By focusing and supporting the mind, the power of the brain is focused instead of being dissipated by its tendency to get distracted and go ‘off piste’.  At the physical level this increases our ability to concentrate, to make decisions and communicate with ease because we are more focused and present.  At a physiological level, meditation positively alters the electrical activity in the brain. During meditation the brainwaves are predominantly alpha waves, which are the frequency associated with feelings of wellbeing.  Essentially by creating alpha waves in our brain, meditation gives us a feeling of wellbeing that is then mirrored by the body. For example, the heart starts to be entrained into coherence and this is associated with reductions in blood pressure.  (Recent research has shown that meditation achieves a significant reduction of up to 4.7 mm systolic blood pressure and 3.2 mm diastolic blood pressure).

However, many people find that the biggest benefits are on the psychological/emotional level.  Meditation helps us to build resilience and improve our psychological stamina so that we are more effective and authentic more of the time.  It helps us to perform to consistently high standards, even under great pressure.  And, over time, it connects us to our inner teacher which guides us with wisdom in our busy lives. And the results are amazingly quick. You will notice benefits after only a week or two of practising once a day for 10 to 15 mins.

Listen to my 7 minute meditation podcast on counting the breath.  This is so easy to do anywhere, anytime.

For more resources and information on meditation contact me: sue@changeworksblog.com.

Using metaphor in communication, whether this be face to face or broadcast, is a powerful way to ensure rapid and effective delivery of your messages.  It is rather like navigating a journey in a ship using the latest radar and satellite navigation and high horsepower engines compared to setting sail in an old schooner. 

Metaphor is essentially where one thing is expressed in terms of another, whereby this bringing together throws new light on the character of what is being described. Metaphor implies comparison. Rather like the comparison that I have just used in the previous paragraph.

The meaning of the story or metaphor is often not in the specific events that make up its content but rather in the underlying patterns or principles it conveys.  Thus the content of metaphors are frequently symbolic rather than literal.  Because of this stories and storytelling is often a more effective tool for stimulating and supporting change.

Telling a story through metaphor is a way of distracting the conscious mind whilst activating the unconscious mind to search for meaning, relationships, patterns, similarities (with self and ongoing experiences) and resources.  Therefore communicating with metaphor is an excellent way of offering new concepts, ideas and behaviours, freeing hidden resources and facilitating change.

Metaphors are an indirect form of communication implying comparison, it allows a ‘carrying over’ of meaning from the story that the teller is presenting to into the reality of the listener.  So the tale takes on a personal meaning.  Metaphors can often bypass conscious resistance and set up a deeper level of communication.

To create useful metaphors in a business context (perhaps to help facilitate change or resolve conflict) to achieve a specific outcome and move toward resolving a problem, the relationships between the elements in the story need to reflect the relationship between the elements found in the problem. A good metaphor, like a good story or film plot, must create expectation and satisfy it in some way consistent with the style of the composition.

The present state and the desired state or outcome are understood and set clearly. And then a context is chosen for the metaphor that will interest the audience but replace all the elements of the problem with different elements, whilst holding the relationships the same.  Then you will plot a story that has the same overall ‘form’ of the present state in the beginning but leads through to a connecting strategy to the desired outcome.

Of course metaphors can be rich in all the representational systems to satisfy different thinking patterns.  They are auditory, as they are told and propagated throughout the organisation. Use of the right emotive language can make them connect to feelings and of course they can be made highly visual through the use of art, drawing with coloured pens and even photography or video.

Have a go at this short exercise designed to help you explore the metaphors you live by:

1. Recall a story, fairy tale or even a dream from your early childhood that was meaningful for you at the time.  Write a short summary (6-8 sentences).
2. Recall a story, fairy tale or even a dream from your recent adolescence that was meaningful for you at the time.  Write a short summary (6-8 sentences).
3. Ask yourself:
4. Who did you identify with in the story? Has it changed?
5. What does it reflect about your beliefs, values or model of the world?
6. What does it indicate about how you’ve changed? and about how you are the same?

If you liked this article why not let me know: sue@changeworkscom.co.uk

Here’s a couple of good books:

The Magic of Metaphor: 77 Stories for Teachers, Trainers and Thinkers, by Nick Owen

Metaphors we Live By, by G Lakoff

The Power of Metaphor: Storytelling and Guided Journeys for Teachers, Trainers and Therapists, Michael Berman and David Brown

Or visit our website to find out more about how we help organisations to communicate better: www.changeworkscom.co.uk

Successful communication by definition is where information is taken in and understood by the recipient. So in order to get your message across in a way that is readily understood, it is useful to have an understanding of thinking patterns.

The connections that a person makes when they receive information, and the way they represent ideas, memories and information is unique to each individual.  It is important to remember this in our communication.  We take in information through all our senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell and this is represented in our minds as a combination of sensory systems.  These thinking patterns are how we ‘code’ our experiences.

The three predominant thinking patterns are:

• Visual – these people think in pictures. They represent ideas and information as mental images.
• Auditory – these people think in sounds.  They hear sounds, voices or noises.
• Feelings – these people represent thoughts and ideas as feelings, either internal emotions or the thought of touch.

We generally have a preference for some systems over others, both in the way we think and in the way we communicate.  In order to engage all of the thinking systems of our diverse audiences, to become powerful communicators we need to use tools that engage all of the senses. This not only ensures that your message gets heard loud and clear but your audience will be keen to hear more from you.

So how do we do this? Here are some of the things that we do at Changeworks Communications to engage and excite our audiences:

• Print – use language that is purposefully rich in all of the senses.  Capture and hold the audience’s attention by using language that taps into visual, auditory and feeling representational systems.
• Press releases - use html so that editors can read your sensory rich language in their web browser and then you can link to other integrated channels to help bring the story to life for them.  We use podcasts and videocasts as well as photography in tandem with the written word.  This ensures that all thinking systems are engaged and the editors love it because they can bring the story to life in their own thinking system.
• Internal communications – the use of web 2.0 tools and social media is fantastic to engage all senses.  The feeling based thinking styles love to interact and click and collaborate – blogs, networking sites, twitter based short messaging services, video and podcasting channels are fantastic tools, and very cost effective.  Get your people to engage with them directly and you have a powerful collaboration platform that brings everyone along with it.
• Telling stories – this is something that we love to use because it engages the auditory (sharing and passing on stories), the visual (good stories paint pictures in people’s minds), and the feeling mind (metaphor and emotion are interlinked – stories engage the heart as well as the mind).  Build storytelling into your communication and you cannot fail to engage.

We hope you enjoyed reading just some of the many ways to engage the full representational systems of the senses in your communication.  This is a powerful way to increase the effectiveness of your communications.  Contact Sue Tupling at Changeworks Communications to discuss more ideas for your organisation: sue@changeworkscom.co.uk.

Web 2.0 encourages us to embrace the chaos.  It takes us outside of our social circles and opens us to experience relationships and connections that choose us. We gain credits through ‘wuffie’,  or social capital, a term used to describe that the more we give away the more we gain.  For this is what social marketing is all about  – collaboration.  From what I can see, the new rules of business are being driven by web 2.0.  Openess, transparency and trust are needed in huge doses but the rewards are inspiring.

Where do you start though? MySpace, Facebook, ecademy, LinkedIn …. the list goes on. Even David Hasslehoff has launched a social site.  Here is a funny YouTube MySpace vs Facebook video that explores the differences! 

Facebook has come into its own for businesses to use to reach consumers, with great applications that users can add.  Innocent drinks uses it to generate buzz for its brand: it has nearly 8,000 fans for its Village Fete!  Heartmath use Facebook to builds its global business – CEO Bruce Cryer is always updating his network. With over 350 ‘friends’ (the average Facebooker has 100), Bruce is an inspiring example of an open and transparent CEO. As a business on Facebook you can add a page for your business, advertise this and build community around your brand with forums, groups and multimedia.  Facebook can store photos (not as comprehensive as Flickr) and videos through YouTube (but try Vimeo and Viddler too).  I think MySpace has been left behind.

However, for boosting your search engine rankings, I have found that LinkedIn and ecademy are great.  LinkedIn feels a bit stodgy and serious sometimes - but perhaps that is part of its appeal.  And it is worth the effort for SEO. 

ecademy is buzzing with life.  I love its ’50 words’ facility which not only helps with your business’s SEO rankings but helps you find ‘people like me’.  And its google SEO keyworks and description, coupled with carefully placed hyperlinks, do wonders too.  It also allows you to combine all your RSS feeds in one place (again great for universal search and SEO). But far beyond that is its potential for engaging you with associates, new and old friends and colleagues and expanding your business horizons.  It is so full of life that it can be overwhelming.

Happy social networking!  But remember to get some work done!