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It came once a day when I found that process maps expressed better that which my mind was creating. Faster and larger in scope: the details within each cloud-shaped thought were bullet- pointed words carefully chosen to express concepts and complete ideas. My thoughts had become encapsulated in slogans. The minutia of tasks listing was no longer a boredom as quickly they resolved into milestones.

I then realised I was journeying my thinking from a tactically driven output to a strategically charged input.

Almost suddenly it was not enough to be given recognition of a well-completed project or brief. I craved the satisfaction to know how it would fit in the overall scheme of the larger project I knew it belonged to. The discovery that no master thinking, that no vision, that no world map may exist to welcome and house my projects generated great and painful dissatisfaction.

The journey from tactical to strategical had brought me to a cross-road of choice.

Tactical abilities are essential to the achievement of high-quality performance and care of the particular. Attention to tactical choices influences directly cost control, customer satisfaction and high product specifications. Tactical choices are, however, broadly defined by cruising plans, definition of destination and discriminatory result-outcomes.

When planning a banquet, the occasion will determine the menu and the menu will determine the recipes and preparation time. An attentive tactical execution within the parameters given by the occasion, which will inevitably include budget, will signify the quality of the banquet and the overall experience of the execution itself.

The questions that interest me are: is the journey from tactical to strategical automatic? Is it necessary and is it an actual journey of knowledge acquisition and discovery?

The relevance of the question aims to understand how career paths and, more crucially, career expectations can be generated, evaluated and managed. Career here can also be more loosely interpreted in terms of ‘life-span’ of a product, a project team as well as referring to a specific individual growth.

It can be observed that some professionals always initiate the conversation by drawing ‘the big picture’ and only after this can they move to the tactical aspects. One can also admit that same professionals are rarely occupied with the outcome or the larger setting where an item or a task might find its place.

At the same time, it is my experience and conclusion that sustainable strategical planning exists when a significant tactical apprenticeship and experience has occurred. Even there where talent for lateral thinking, for finding creative and imaginative solutions is available, the transformational of innovative ideas into tangible innovative outcomes only occurs when the creative mind has gained sufficient acumen on delivering high-quality projects and tasks.

The chef who is able to recognise the flavour and texture of a pea taken from a frozen bag from one freshly squired from a pod will successfully generate menus that will match and deliver on the banquet sense of occasion.

The journey from tactical to strategic seems therefore not to be automatic: there, where talent and interest are available, the path to sustainable and successful strategic planning is filled with restrain and patience. Often frustration might lead to a change of direction by the actor.

There, where enforcement of quality and attention to detail is prevalent, the move towards strategical thinking is to be encouraged, nurtured and occasionally imposed. It will require coaching and mentoring and external motivators.

This evaluation does not, however, make me doubt that the term journey appropriately applies and as such a sense of adventure and discovery will accompany those that commence it.

Multi-tasking: Myth or Reality

Can multi-tasking decrease our performance?

Reality
We have 5 senses: sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste.
Those senses collect information from the external world and translate those into input and signals which allow us to generate thoughts, decision and actions.
As human beings, we are complex and legendary – and yes, there are plenty of things that we can do “at the same time”.
Consider walking: we move our legs into steps, we follow the road, we read directions, we hear noise and traffic: we can listen to music or have a conversation.
Consider eating: we can chew, smell and taste the food. We can walk while we eat. Some of us can drive while eating. We can even talk … (even thought my mother would say it was unpolite). Many of us watch TV while eating: we can therefore listen and watch two things “at the same time” – the food and the TV program.
It seems therefore that MULTI-TASKING is a reality: we are capable do involve our senses and bring knowledge to our mind on different tasks, simultaneously.

Myth
Health advisors, however, recognise that “mindless eating” is a cause for unhealthy overweight – we stimulate our brain with distracting information while we expect our stomach to deliver the message in time and inform our mind that it is satisfied – a brain who attention is taken by other sense.
The same considerations are applied to multi-tasking while driving: most countries today apply a heavy penalty system if you are caught driving and texting. The rational is that while we can perform more than one task simultaneously, we cannot give our ATTENTION to more than one thing at the same time.
We share our attention: we can shift it quickly between our fork and the TV screen, making sure that we eat the right food and while not missing a goal. We can change gear in our car, pick at the light and press that button that will open an email. But we cannot give attention do all 3 actions AT THE SAME TIME.
Our own language in fact informs us of this distinction: we can see or watch, hear or listen. The difference is in the attention.

Multi-tasking & Performance
It seems therefore valid that while we can “do” more than one thing at the same time – like listening to music while writing, it is not possible to give attention to the content of an email while talking on the phone.
We should therefore re-define “multi-tasking” when applied to a business environment.
Multi-tasking can be intended as: our ability to manage more than one project running at the same time by allocating the sufficient ATTENTION to all aspect of the projects sequentially and appropriately.
A working day may include maintenance of relations with colleague, of correspondence with clients, completion of assigned reports, review, production etc.
The number of projects which will be running successfully at the “same time” will very much depend on the individual ability to “switch” attention.
Some of us can regain the train of thoughts held in a specific conversation quite quickly – some of us have learned to use techniques like note taking to ensure that we have a repository of memory.
For some to “move” focus between two tasks comes more difficult – and the distraction, especially in certain jobs, can only be equated to a costly interruption.
It is not our ability to do more than one thing at the same time (eat and watch TV) that affects our performance: it is our ability to move our ATTENTION between tasks that will determine if we are successfully “multi-tasking”.

The Manager Tool Kit: Empathy at work

Why “walking in other people shoes” is not empathy.

Understanding the position and experience lived by others is a very complex skill.

Driven by our instinct to belong and desire to create shared-meanings we rely on generic interpersonal & communications skills in order to create a connection with a team member or a colleague.

As the person describes in words what is happening in their personal or professional life, we cannot help but to think how their experience compares with ours.   We search closely into our direct experience as finding a link can warrant understanding and comprehension.

In my experience empathy requires “emotional imagination”: the ability to imagine how we personally would feel and react if confronted by a specific situation.

However, this exercise, this thought experiment, may not create a valid understanding as the historical emotional make up which characterises us is different.

Scenario 1:

You have been appointed as new manager you an established team. Team Member M, who also applied for the role, is challenging directly your authority.

As a competent manager you would be looking to use “empathy” and try to understand the reality for the team member and define a suitable and appropriate ground of connection.

You would ask “How would I feel if I were to be passed over for a promotion?” “How would I feel if the new manager is my junior in experience?”

Just these 2 questions are asked in a moment when you, a newly appointed manager, are channelling confidence, strength and energy to engage with the new role.

Can we paraphrase and ask if a hungry lion is able to put himself in the shoe of a reindeer?

The 2 questions ask to compare experience of unsuccess and perceived ageism– two extremely personal experience which, when combined, can create a multitude of possible outcomes and life expectations.

Scenario 2:

A team member is having a private challenge and, during conversation, we might want to show support by saying “I know how you feel.” Often, we do this even if we do not have direct experience of the challenge, we are just “putting ourselves in the person shoe”.

But – can we really walk in 4 inc heels?

In reality, we might actually being denying the other person the right to express their personal point of view and story, as they would feel discouraged if they believe that they cannot add anything new to our knowledge of the world.

Scenario 3:

You are line manager of a Junior supervisor and your role is to coach him/her

The challenges s/he will face are quite “stereotypical” of the role: for example managing time-keeping.

Our own direct experience, in this case would be extremely useful and we could say “when I was in your place” as a way to guide and give practical examples on how to handle specific situations. But is the situation really similar or just comparable? Did you have a senior manager to guide you? Or how large was your team? Did you have the same level of management education that the junior supervisor has gained?

In all 3 scenarios, is impractical to attempt to imagine the exact combination of life experience, even when we have direct personal or professional experience, seems therefore to suggest that is is not possible to create a sense of true connection with a team member.

The great American Novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” suggests that

First of all,” he said, “if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view […] until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” (3.85-87)

I believe that this sense aims exactly how IMPOSSIBLE is to climb on somebody skin and walk around it and that empathy is the ability and emotional “awareness” to understand the differences with others rather than attempting to focus on limited and confusing similarities.

When confronting any of the above situation the right step towards an empathic connection is to open the conversation and allow the other person to give us information on “how they feel” as this experience is occurring to them, not to us.

Empathy occurs when we allow ourselves to consider and address those differences with the other and within our own world of differences local small and relevant point of connection, upon which a strong interpersonal relationship can be build.

For the Line manager coaching a junior supervisor the understanding of the difference is actually the crucial point: the learning is not on how we solve the specific challenge but how we have got to the conclusion, to the solution of the problem – which can be solved only by ensuring the team achieves a good attendance.

The learning preferences of the junior supervisor are key to his/her ability to succeed in communication with the team and with the line manager.

A counter – argument to the theory that empathy begins when we acknowledge the differences rather than the similiaries is when we are considering the effect that our actions might have on others.

How would a reindeer feel next to a lion? How would I feel if somebody would tell me “I know what you are going through” or “This is how to deal with this specific situation, I know because I have done it before you”.

To use another commonly used sentence we would say “treat others as you wish to be treated” – the well known golden rule.

The application of the golden rule is based upon the basic application of empathy and, correctly, relies upon the idea that, in most cases, we would not take a decision that would be harmful to ourselves. Similarities are here to be considered rather than differences.

In my opinion, however, to try to imagine how we would feel if we were to be treated in a specific way does not attempt to go far beyond our own direct knowledge and experience, as imagining to walk in other shoes. The thought experience is in fact based on “us” with all the knowledge we posses of our own preferences and experiences.

In summary, when taking decisions in management, I strive to adopt best judgement in considering the effects the decision or change might have on other, by considering my own preference first. I surely avoid to implement changes that I would not be able to cope with myself or that I would find morally and ethically questionable.

I wouldn’t however ask my decision-making process to stretch by including considerations regarding other interests as I would not be able to tally correctly and account for all the possible variation of experiences and expectations within a team.

Dublin, December 2017

5 Communication Tools

Recently I joined a new venture and a key objective has been to be connected as quickly as possible. Within 24 hours I had access to core business applications, I established links with the entire team via over Skype & LinkedIn, set up a Slack Team to exchange with the Board.

Connected …. Anytime, Anywhere and about Anything.

Over the course of my career I have accumulated countless stories on how the use of the wrong communication tool affected performance, motivation and overall project success.

Reliance on applications like Same Time and Skype can create an expectation of immediate response to such an extent that missing a message or a delay in reply results in concerns over performance.  I have personally received updates on key business decisions in unplanned phone conversations during which I was not in suitable location to be able to engage appropriately in the conversation.

Poor communication is not limited to the technology used: abuse of face-to-face conversations may cause meeting*atis:  effectively slowing down the completion of daily tasks, bringing distractions and accumulation of unproductive times – we always go to get a coffee, take a break before meetings – and after we might linger in the corridors for a friendly catch up!

Technology tools support us in enhancing performance and speed. Here a short guide on how to use 5 communication technologies:

1. VIDEO CALLS (Skype, Google Hangout)

PROS: it facilities distant conversations as it is possible to read body language and encourages attention by all involved. It does require learning of appropriate video behaviour like how to take turn to speak and an appropriate body language when on camera.

CONS: it is still a mediated conversation and it might not suitable for highly sensitive conversations regarding performance and behaviour in the workplace. Dependent on technology functioning well, to have a serious conversation with sound/video delays would challenge the most effective communicator.

1. INSTANT MESSAGING:

PROS: extremely efficient tool for short conversations which require immediate answer/action. Any conversation that leads to a decisions should be summaries in an email, adding to the conversation other key contributors and potentially follow up with a call/meeting to validate findings.

CONS: not easy to use for long conversations. Complex thoughts are not easy to read as the txt format does not allow the eyes to identify clearly paragraphs and overall sentence tones.  Easy to get distracted and multi-task using other applications or having multiple conversations

1. SLACK:

PROS: communication style is close to that of instant messaging with is the opportunity to have easy access to past conversations historical –  multigroup chats (teams) and makes it easy to share knowledge between different participants.

CONS: fast accumulation of content – easy to fall back on the reading. Trails of communication overlap when used in the “Team” mode.

1. FACEBOOK at work (old Intranet)

PROS: creates an internal area of communication – like intranet which supports the communication of news and events. It encourages employees’ participation in the communication network.

CONS: like social media it can be distracting at work and replicate the culture of the long chats at the coffee machine. Team and users would require suitable training to be able to distinguish content that is relevant to the work team rather than using the tool as an internal exchange system.

1. EMAIL:

PROS: email communication is now pervasive in our society as well as in business. Excellent tools for communicating content that requires some consideration and planning.

CONS: not useful for short communication – notifications like “can you please close the file as I need to access it” fills in the inbox unnecessarily and a Same Time conversation APP is best suited. Drafting email content is also to be carefully planned – do not fill the content of an email with information that should be contained on a more structured report.

Conclusion 

The core to my learning rests on the principle that the WHAT determines the HOW:  we must carefully consider which piece of information is to be communicated, to whom and how the recipient is most likely to react.

To address any sort of performance concern other than in a direct and in person conversation will prove ineffective and demoralising.

The feedback giver must adjust tone of voice according to the reaction to the first words, to avoid challenges in listening or undesired resistance and confrontation. Immediate reading of body language (reactions) can only be done by experiencing each other body language, live and in an unmediated form.

Digital communication allows to bright the gap of time and space between co-workers. It should not, however, be used as a substitute to in-person interaction.

STAND OUT, BUT STAND TOGETHER!

The 19th of May was an exciting day for Symposium Learning. As we exhibited at the Momentum Summit 2017, organised by the Dublin Chambers at the AVIVA Stadium, “standing out” took on not only a figurative but also a literal meaning for us.

What makes you and your business stand out from the crowd? What is your Unique Value Proposition (UVP)? How can you tell your story in a way that others will listen to it in an overcrowded digital world?

These are just some of the intriguing questions that were raised during the day. Thinking back on the event, all the great conversations, interesting ideas and the buzz of our stand, still charges me. So, I decided to share with you some of the key components that I believe have contributed to our success.

Our colourful infographics and various handouts with experiential learning exercises have undoubtedly played an important part, together with providing the possibility for attendees to win interesting books. Our banner with the beautiful tree of Symposium Learning could be seen from far away.

However, the most important element that helped us stand out was less tangible and more subtle than that.

We truly came together as a team.

It started much earlier than of the actual event with careful planning and preparation. Thus, we arrived at the summit being crystal clear about our goals and how we were going to reach them.

On the day, our CEO was always active, striking up conversations wherever she went and driving more and more people to our Stand. We divided the tasks organically between the three of us, allowing ample time for each to gain new knowledge and inspiration, and exchange meaningful conversations, while at the same time always being mindful of our stand.

It could have been easy to get lost between the different locations for insightful sessions, masterclasses, networking and being an exhibitor at the same time. Not to mention lunch… However, harnessing the Power of Digital, we seamlessly managed our presence between various locations.

Without Symposium Learning truly coming together as a team, we would not have been able to stand out and close the day with such success.

Update on our journey

Dear Customer, Friend, Connection

We are now celebrating the 4th month of business and I would like to mark the occasion by thanking my first customers who are trusting Symposium Learning by sharing our vision, investing in our relationship, trusting us and partnering in our practice and learning ethos.

I proudly attended the Social Media Summit in Dublin (#SMSummitIRE) and while sitting with the audience, feeling inspired and challenged, the idea for this blog post arose.

Essential to a good Content Strategy, I have learned, is the STORY we intend to tell: great stories make great examples and behind the examples lies the learning experience.

What is the story that brought about Symposium Learning Institute?

As all good stories, also this one begins with “A long long time ago…” This memory has been only recently revived in me when clearing my parent’s attic and found the oh-so-common box of memorabilia our parents collect during our school years.

At secondary school an Art Class project was assigned asking to “draw the profession you see yourself in when you grow up”. I drew myself as a “Manager” – with name tag on the door, long hair, entering a room with table and chairs.

Today I wonder, what did it really mean to a 14-year-old to grow up to be a Manager? What meaning has it taken after 20 years of practice and what meaning does it have today, writing as the founder of an institute of learning for leaders and managers?

Collins English Dictionary teaches us that Manager stands for:

“ ( Professions) a person who directs or manages an organization, industry, shop, etc.*

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 (c) Harper Collins Publishers

In the early 90s the word “Manager” already had trickled down into the Italian language and it with the status, the expectations, the aspiration that the word includes. It whispered the WOW factor: the knowledge of being in charge, of making decision for myself and others and to be at the top-end of the table.

However, as my inexperience showed, the team and people to would be the organisation, the industry or even the shop, are silently missing from the picture.

The story continues and I would like now to share with you the strongest memory I have of my largest mistake as a manager.

In 20 years of corporate career I travelled the road from junior agent to senior, from supervisor to trainer, from Centre Manager to Operations Manager of 5 outsourced centres, which I supported from their start-up phases. From Dublin to Paris, London, San Diego, Tangier, Bucharest and Manila.

For a time I held two functions at once: I was the Dublin Call Centre Trainer and the Team Leader of the Mediterranean Team. In the effort to do-it-all, I addressed a feedback to a senior team-member in a post-it:  I left on the screen of his computer while he was on his lunch break. I imagined that he would appreciate my effort to be present while not being present, to show I was paying attention to his work and that I had an active remark to make.

The list of good intention and appropriate managerial considerations where nullified by that little square of sticky yellow paper against a computer screen.

Luckily the team-member was assertive enough and we had sufficient open communication channels for him to voice how impersonal, matter of fact and dictating that post-it sounded. No smiley face could warm up a performance feedback left without giving him the chance to respond: it contained no tone of voice, no body-language, no leadership.

Today I still only use post-its as bookmarks and references annotation!

Back to the present: how those recollections inform my present?  Where is the learning experience? What does Symposium Learning’s core message “Enable your Management Style” stands for?

The word “able” signifies “to can” – to develop and enrich one own experience and skillset. The references to “style” is to acknowledge our individuality and uniqueness, our direct experiences and shared communal knowledge and values. “Management” emphases people and connection: organisation, shops, and products are empty without their customers, our colleague and essential team members.

At Symposium Learning we understand a Manager to be

“A person who connects with other for the shared interest to succeed.”

A Manager is s/he who has willingness to create, produce and achieve a shared goal. Be it operating in a Start-Up, a Social Enterprise, a Charity, an established Corporation or Venture Capitalist.

For those who wonder: YES – the picture I share is of the original drawing, dated Milan, 1990, Class 3aG!

Thank you kindly for your support and attention

Samantha Di Gesaro Magee

Founder and Chief Learning Officer of Symposium Learning

PS> We take this occasion to direct your attention to our on-line EXECUTIVE BOOKCLUB – a collection of book reviews, video and links that aims to reduce your effort in sourcing high-standard information on business practices and useful managerial content.