Compassion

Sadly, our dog, Fawn died last week.  However, I was a little unprepared for the compassion shown to our family.

Fawn was only approaching 3 years old. Diagnosed with a serious heart condition at a young age, her life was filled with visits to the vets, lots of medication, with lots of love she touched many peoples lives. Throughout her short life, the support we received from the Kennel Club Insurance was outstanding, in fact it was consistently world class. We’d simply taken up an offer from the breeder and it was only shortly thereafter Fawn was diagnosed with Mitral Valve Dysplasia.

It was probably one of the wisest decisions that we made, as the vet bills soon started to rocket. Claims submissions, calls for guidance and all other communications with the Kennel Club were always helpful and extremely courteous. Yesterday, was my final call, informing them of Fawn’s passing. The call handler I spoke to, Kerry, was so understanding and compassionate. I thanked her for showing so much empathy and then she explained that all those who work at the Kennel Club, are pet lovers too, who understand the situation. After the call, I realised that I have never before in all of my life been treated with so much respect, love and care. I am grateful for compassionate organisations.

A couple of days ago, we also received a lovely compassionate hand written card from Kerry at the Kennel Club.  It is great to see an organisation living up to its values.

Thank you Kennel Club.

Intuition

Something wasn’t quite right, and I knew it. Intuition – “a thing that one knows or considers likely from instinctive feeling rather than conscious reasoning”

Travelling home from London last Friday, after passing through Airport security, I stopped for a bite to eat. Faced with lots of choices, I made my selection, opting for a Cornish pasty!

I placed my order with the one member of staff who was on duty and she was very helpful, but I immediately sensed something wasn’t quite right. As she was bagging up my pasty, I asked how her day was going, she responded “fine, but I still have 3 hours to go”. There was no-one behind me and we spoke further. It turns out we’d both had a very long day, then I explored further and asked where she came from, “Venezuela” she replied. She shared the story of her last 4 days, which was filled with deep anxiety and worry for her family, especially her mother back home.

I stood and simply listened. Then listened some more. Then listened a while longer. I don’t understand all that is going on in Venezuela, but I do understand the pain that it was causing the young lady who served me that day.

I’m glad I listened to the still small voice, trusted my intuition, stopped and tuned into the conversation that followed.

Intuition is real! Stop, listen and follow yours!

Momentum

England and Scotland’s remarkable match on Saturday was a game of two halves, each filled with momentum – “the force that keeps an object moving or keeps an event developing after it has started”. England had it in bucket-loads in the first half and Scotland, oodles of it in the second.

Watching the match I went through a rollercoaster of emotions from despair to elation and then (yes) disappointment with a draw!

What happened? How could England giveaway a 31 point lead?

Momentum built for England, try after try in the first half, and then a tiny opportunity – a chink of light, appeared at the end of the half for Scotland.

Half time. Reflection time for both teams. For England, I found this quote, which resonated with me – “Sometimes thinking too much can destroy your momentum” -Tom Watson. For the Scots, pause, build some respect in the second and with a bit of luck, maybe give the Scots fans something to sing about by winning the half?

A quick try, English confidence collapses, momentum builds for the Scots, try, and another, and another – unbelievable! And yet, somehow, England dig deep, and come up with a try in the closing seconds.

Momentum in your life, in your family, in your team and your organisation is whatever your attitude determines it to be.

What action can you take to build momentum toward success in your own life or in your organisation?
#belief #attitude

Commitment

Are you committed to succeed?

As a young salesman in 1989, I had to cover a huge territory – Scotland, down to Leeds & Manchester, plus every 6 weeks, I headed over to Ireland.  Leaving Dunfermline early morning at the start of the week, I drove to Stranraer and caught the ferry to Larne.  Then I drove all the way to Cork, always arriving late on Monday evening, to work my way home that week.  It was always a long day and a long week – yet, I was committed to succeed. It wasn’t long before sales in Ireland literally took off.

We cannot accomplish anything, without commitment. “Work will win when wishy washy wishing won’t” – Thomas S. Monson.

Commitment as a word cannot stand alone. We must always ask, “Committed to what?”  Dale Carnegie once said, “If you are not in the process of becoming the person you want to be, you are automatically engaged in becoming the person you don’t want to be.”  Our journey through life is dotted with a series of commitments, interwoven with discipline – that can bring success – if we will consistently do what we have agreed to do.  A commitment to excellence will ensure that you obtain the success you seek.

What are you committed to?

#leadership

Respect

My parents taught me to be respectful of others.  It is a lesson I’ve never forgotten.

Sadly, in our day, far too often respect for others seems to be a value long forgotten.

I was taken with the words of the Queen yesterday whilst speaking at the WI in Norfolk, she said: “The continued emphasis on patience, friendship, a strong community focus, and considering the needs of others, are as important today as they were when the group was founded all those years ago.

“Of course, every generation faces fresh challenges and opportunities.

“As we look for new answers in the modern age, I for one prefer the tried and tested recipes, like speaking well of each other and respecting different points of view; coming together to seek out the common ground; and never losing sight of the bigger picture.”

She said these approaches were “timeless, and I commend them to everyone”

Respect is a gift to be given freely and generously around the dinner table, the canteen table or the boardroom table. Please choose to be more respectful, more selfless, more tolerant, more kind, more friendly.

“When we treat people merely as they are, they will remain as they are. When we treat them as if they were what they should be, they will become what they should be.” – Thomas S. Monson

Learning

I love this story I learned about again at the weekend..

“Two axemen who held a contest to determine who could cut down more trees in a day. At sunrise the contest commenced. Every hour the smaller man wandered off into the forest for 10 minutes or so. Each time he did this, his opponent smiled and nodded, assured that he was forging ahead. The larger man never left his post, never stopped cutting, never took a break.

When the day ended, the larger man was shocked to learn that his opponent, who seemingly wasted so much time, had cut many more trees than he. “How did you do it when you took so many breaks?” he asked.

The winner replied, “Oh, I was sharpening my axe.” – as shared by Tad R. Callister

Stephen Covey shares a similar story about sharpening your saw.

I believe this story is so relevant to many of us isn’t it?

We can get frustrated, debilitated even by the challenges of so many aspects of life and our inability to cope.  Far too frequently however, instead of developing ourselves and taking the time to become more effective, we keep struggling with a blunt axe..

So – don’t do it anymore. Choose to stop, slow down, sharpen your axe and become much more effective.

The key to learning is continuous development.

What will you stop to sharpen today?

Sharing

“Life is about creating and living experiences that are worth sharing.” – Steve Jobs

We need to talk about what we’re learning.  Continuous learning is one of the keys to success in life, no matter what you do.  A phrase I have heard a lot recently during many coaching conversations is that “sharing is caring”.   For children, sharing can be a difficult challenge to master, but an important one to learn and carry into adulthood.

As a coach and learning facilitator, frequently I share thoughts, ideas and insights to help others meet some of their challenges in the workplace or in their own life, one by one or in a workshop.  The knowledge comes from my own experiences, personal learning & study, but also what has been shared with me.

In our technology savvy world, we live in an age of sharing. Mark Zuckerberg wrote when setting up Facebook –  “I wanted to create an environment where people could share whatever information they wanted, but also have control over whom they shared that information with.”

Sharing – “to give a portion of (something) to another or others”.  There are some real benefits to sharing:

  1. It builds trust
  2. You feel good
  3. It brings things to life
  4. It creates understanding
  5. It makes things real

Show you care today and share.