The Watercooler

An assembly line keeps going. Pause to think and whatever it is you are assembling is ten yards down the track. Unless you keep going you end up off station, which doesn’t make you popular with guy whose toes you are now standing on.

But even if we don’t work on an assembly line, it still feels like it at times. There’s no time to stop to think, to plan, even to daydream about new ideas.

How about scheduling a meeting with yourself? Yes, go on, put it in your diary. Then use the time to think.

A Cardiff business woman I know goes one better. Karen books herself a first class return rail ticket to London. Away from office pressures she uses the journey each way to think and to work on business strategy rather than day-to-day issues, just stopping long enough in London to have lunch.

I expect Karen also works on staff TRAINing strategy on these trips.

That bloke waving at us from the sea may not be intent on being friendly. His signalling may be rather more significant. On the other hand, that little old lady standing at the side of the road may resent us helping her to the other side when she was just admiring the view.

When we are networking we should be on the lookout for those who may be drowning metaphorically and who would welcome our help. On the other hand, we shouldn’t try to railroad people into crossing the road unwillingly, however good it may make us feel to have done them a good turn. But how do we spot the difference between waving and drowning?

By listening, not talking. Now, where are the water wings?

“Poor man, he suffers from files.” Aneurin Bevan, Minister of Health 1945-51, father of the NHS.

There are two main types of filing system: Black Hole and Open Cast. In the former everything is piled into a filing basket. Often the pile can be a foot deep. The disadvantage is that important and urgent things disappear under the weight of new paperwork and can be forgotten. The advantages are twofold: 1) you know that everything is in there somewhere; 2) it is space efficient.

With the Open Cast system folders are spread across every available surface. An obvious disadvantage is the space required. On the plus side, as long as folders are well labelled it is possible to find everything quickly.

The less imaginative minority will adopt a third approach and utilise a filing cabinet.

I try desperately to be part of this third group but run a parallel Black Hole system.

Then there are my computer files. This system defies categorisation. But I’ll be organised one day.

Nye Bevan would have admired me!

I spent most of yesterday outside. The sun had finally emerged after several weeks of hiding. Despite the sunshine there was a distinctly autumn-ish feel. It feels like the end of summer. The impending gloom of autumn is a bit unsettling. I hate autumn. More accurately, I hate winter and autumn is its prelude. But there is a positive aspect.

The July/August silly season is almost over. It is new beginnings. Children go back to school and young people head off to colleges and universities. Some will be starting new jobs despite the difficult jobs market. Somehow there are less distractions in autumn. After all it’s difficult to be committed to the office when its warm and sunny outside.

So it’s time to commit to those new projects that we’ve been dreaming about whilst sitting in the garden with a glass of wine on the odd sunny day. I have several projects that I will be kicking off. At least one of them has been inspired by reading of the success of others through their tweets. Reading of other people’s activities and successes is a great way to motivate yourself to move from dreaming to doing stage.

The sun is shining again today. Have I got time for another glass of wine before I start doing things?

Golfer, Gary Player, was interviewed by a journalist after he came off the course. The journalist suggested Player had had a lucky round – you know the sort of thing, 20 yard putts go down the hole. Player’s response was along the lines of, “I find the harder I practice, the luckier I get.” 

I can’t remember who talked about ‘getting in the way of luck’. But the point is, luck isn’t always down to luck. We can do things to influence the way events turn out. I will never be a lucky lottery winner because I have never bought a ticket.

If we tell only one person about our business perhaps we should start buying lottery tickets. If we tell 1,000 people they’ll all want a share of our lottery winnings but at least we have a thousand times better prospect of doing business.

I was reading an article on television producer Daisy Goodwin. Something she said struck a chord with me. “I think it’s quite amusing when people set up their tiny companies and then call themselves CEO. So when I set up Silver River, I called myself head girl.”

I am a huge fan of Brazilian industrialist Ricardo Semler. He got rid of organisation structures and job titles in his Semco corporation and jokingly referred to his key advisor as Chief Pharaoh. When I have been asked my job title, depending on how mischievous I feel, I have offered Chief Pharaoh, Chairman & Chief Executive of Myself and even Consultant Anarchist.

When I set up on my own I was advised to refer to ‘we’ and ‘the team’ so that it wasn’t so evident I was a one-man band. I have concluded that such pretensions are a mistake. After all, my wife still confuses my Global Headquarters with the spare (bedless) bedroom.

My only slight reservation, having sacked my imaginary team, is that it is difficult to avoid using the ‘I’ word rather more than I would like. 

Owen Smith, our man at BHS is on a healthy diet! (Ed.)

I have received a salutary lesson in the value of recruitment being the fundamental driver to business success. Opposite Marylebone Station there is a small café/sandwich bar where yesterday I bought my lunch for the first (but not the last) time. The service and attitude of the staff was exemplary, and I felt welcomed and valued. But I bet their training budget is zero and they have no bells-and-whistles Customer Service Programme. It made me think about the money spent by larger businesses on these sorts of programmes and how this is like pushing water uphill if you don’t have the right attitude and culture to start with. Indeed, these programmes could be largely redundant if the right people and culture are in place to start with! I came up with the acronym RATS – Recruit Attitude, Train Skill – as it made me smile to think that the RATS in this café are actually fundamental to its success!

So if you’re ever hungry in Marylebone they do much more than eggsbaconchipsandbeans – the sandwiches are great too!

Am I alone in wanting to fit in one extra thing before setting off for wherever? And then realising I’m now running late. 

My daughter is home on holiday. Yesterday she was going to stay with a friend. I was taking her to the station to catch a train. Determined not to be late I chivvied her up so that we set off with time to spare. Underway I discovered the train time was ten minutes later than I thought and we had half an hour for a ten minute journey. A bit excessive. So rather than driving into the station car park I parked in the adjacent village and we sat in the car chatting for a while. Then strolled up the station drive. And went into panic mode.

The train was being announced. And they had installed a ticket machine so leaping on and buying aboard not possible. Train pulling in. Early. Ticket purchased Anna boarded. Chap on train pointing at machine. Something left in it. Another ticket? Grabbed it and passed to Anna. Train leaves. Text message, “I’ve bought a return!” “Use it on Friday.” “It’s a day return!”

By the way, clock in car slow.

I had been persuaded that posting daily was a good idea. But even with the help of my celebrity contributors it posed quite a challenge to provide something worthwhile every day. As readership is pretty low at weekends I decided that in future The Watercooler would be open for business Monday to Friday. In response to this I received a Twitter message from Miss Daisy with a link to an item suggesting that quantity may not be everything in the world of top blogs.

In fact I worry that there is just too much information flying around the ether. So many people are busy writing blogs, Tweeting and so on that I wonder if anyone ever gets time to read what is being said. It’s a bit like a big meeting where everyone is talking and no one is listening.

The link was to Viper Chill. I suggest that all serious bloggers should read it.

I had a Twitter exchange last week with Lesley at Cup Cakes In The City. Her son is going to Hull University and I mentioned visiting it when our daughter went there. My wife (aka The Management) was most impressed with the flower beds. Now, this may not be the most important aspect of a university but being greeted by hordes of beautifully tended pansies created a good initial impression.

Often an initial impression is all we have to go on. Our perception of people, products, businesses and organisations in general will determine whether we will pursue a relationship with them. We are in an unfamiliar town and we want lunch. We don’t know the restaurants, so we peer through the window. What we see will lure us in or turn us away despite the fact that appearances aren’t necessarily a guide to the quality of the food or the service we’ll receive.

How are your metaphorical flower beds? Which reminds me that the hedge needs cutting and the lawn mowing!